Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods

vvrchandra · 26th December 2010, 17:56

Jassi,

I guess the HTC Desire HD does not have a front facing camera for video calls. Is there any other way one can achieve this using the lone 8mp camera?

BaCkSeAtDrIVeR · 26th December 2010, 18:22

Can somebody please rank the different screen types (LED / AMOLED, etc, resistive / capacitive etc) on some crieteria?

Also, people may find this interesting:-

Android Developers Blog: It’s not “rooting”, it’s openness

Also, it may be noted that there are alternatives to Google's market place; there aint any alternatives for OVI.

VLC For Android May Arrive In Early 2011 - Slashdot

SchumiFan · 26th December 2010, 18:49

Some of the apps I am currently using in my LG P500:

App name - Dolphin Browser HD
Free/Charge - Free
What it does - An alternative to the phone's in-built browser
How it performs (your rating) - Excellent. Supports pinch zoom and can open multi-tabs. Gestures for various actions to be performed in the browser (close, back, forward etc).

App name - AVG Anti-Virus
Free/Charge - Free
What it does - Anti-virus software to scan and clean the phone. Has real-time scanning too and scans each app downloaded from market and each file loaded into phone
How it performs (your rating) - Good. Made me stop installing apps that haven't been downloaded from the Android market.

Bluengel180 · 26th December 2010, 19:45

Resistive.

A resistive touchscreen panel is composed of several layers, the most important of which are two thin, metallic, electrically conductive layers separated by a narrow gap. When an object, such as a finger, presses down on a point on the panel’s outer surface the two metallic layers become connected at that point. This causes a change in the electrical current which is registered as a touch event and sent to the controller for processing.

Capacitive.

A capacitive touchscreen panel consists of an insulator such as glass and coated with a transparent conductor. As the human body is also a conductor, touching the surface of the screen results in a distortion of the body’s electrostatic field, measurable as a change in capacitance.

Boring. Now that’s out of the way, let’s look at the key differences between the two:

Capacitive is the newer technology and more expensive to manufacture.
Too much layers on a resistive panel reflects ambient light so display is poorer against sunlight compared to capacitive.
Capacitive uses your electron-rich finger as contact. Gloved fingers or inanimate objects doesn’t work.
Resistive panels only require pressure. You can use your fingers, stylus or even your fingernail.
Multi-touch won’t work with resistive touchscreen as opposed to capacitive.
So now you know which devices uses a capacitive and a resistive touchscreen. I hope you would also learn that there’s no clear winner here. Each technology has its own use. It is also clear that it is a major disadvantage for capacitive touchscreen-based devices to sell well in cold countries.

AMOLED or Active matrix organic light emitting diode is the latest display technology used in today’s products such as mobile phones and televisions. Some of its advantages over the existing LCD and LED display technologies are as follows:-
They are extremely thin and weigh a lot lesser than conventional displays
They can be bent! yes!, this makes them resistant to breakage and are extremely rugged

Lower power consumption – The screen lights up, hence they do not require backlights (LCDs and LEDs do)
Superior image quality – Remember the light that is emitted from the display screen is from the actual screen, which means unlike conventional displays, a backlight is not used, which means higher contrast ratios and better colour reproduction

Hence the best combo will be capacitive + amoled

srishiva · 26th December 2010, 21:25

Except Nokia other manufacturers are making most of their phones without the front facing camera. They dont think Video calling is a good feature to have?

BaCkSeAtDrIVeR · 26th December 2010, 23:58

Thanks, blueenger.

Srishiva - right now, only BSNL / MTNL provide 3G video conferencing; and the recent order to that effect (hardly one week) has stirred up a storm in the operator's.

jassi · 27th December 2010, 01:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by abhayshanu

How about the camera and sound quality?
Also does it have multi-touch?

the camera,call and sound quality are great on htc desire hd. Multi-touch works perfectly fine as well, including pinch to zoom and the new 3d google maps two finger gestures

Quote:

Originally Posted by vvrchandra

Jassi,

I guess the HTC Desire HD does not have a front facing camera for video calls. Is there any other way one can achieve this using the lone 8mp camera?

Yes the android 2.3 does offer support for 2 cameras and video calling - but i have not seen any app in the store yet that allows for video calling

3g or wifi is much needed to make video calls and even with 3g i haven't seen video calling pick up in other countries (aussie and US specifically) - face it not many ppl wanna be seen all the time, especially when the boss calls

it would be rude to reject the boss' video call!

driverace · 27th December 2010, 01:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by jassi

the camera,call and sound quality are great on htc desire hd. Multi-touch works perfectly fine as well, including pinch to zoom and the new 3d google maps two finger gestures

Yes the android 2.3 does offer support for 2 cameras and video calling - but i have not seen any app in the store yet that allows for video calling

3g or wifi is much needed to make video calls and even with 3g i haven't seen video calling pick up in other countries (aussie and US specifically) - face it not many ppl wanna be seen all the time, especially when the boss calls

it would be rude to reject the boss' video call!

how much did the Desire HD cost you there?
with the conversion rate applied.
(I mean is it considerably cheaper there?)
(Reason is that, my friend is coming from US, this Jan, so, if its better, I can ask him to bring an HD for me too!, I am really happy about the phone)
can you explain the camera part bit more?

thanks.

care,

Ace.

abhayshanu · 27th December 2010, 05:30

If the camera and sound is great, there is not much more doubt about it.
As you told that the HD would cost 27k here but I saw the prices online being the same or a little more.

revtech · 27th December 2010, 06:38

App name - Skyfire
Free/Charge - Free
What it does - An alternative to the phone's inbuilt browser
How it performs (your rating) - Excellent. Supports pinch zoom and can open multi-tabs. also says it plays some videos which normally wouldnt be possible with 2.1.i prefer it over the dolphin browser..

jassi · 27th December 2010, 11:07

in Aussie, it cost us 800 dollars including delivery - so not cheap here.
here is the cnet aussie review HTC Desire HD Review - Smartphones & PDA Phones
But yeah US you can get it for much cheaper, if its launched there and I am quite sure its not. If you are getting something from the US - get the Google Nexus S for 500 bucks!! Its google's official phone, updates directly provided by google - 2 cameras, et al - its a no brainer!! Nexus S ? The new Android phone from Google

ruchirtnt · 27th December 2010, 11:16

App name - NFS
Free/Charge - Bought at Rs. 46.7
What it does - Car racing
How it performs (your rating) - mobile version of worlds most famous game; NFS, good one.

hiren959 · 27th December 2010, 11:37

App name - Google Sky Map
Free/Charge - Free
What it does - Just hold your mobile at a star or planet, it gives you the name and many more
How it performs (your rating) - Very very good.

App name - Yahoo mail
Free/Charge - Free
What it does - Very useful Yahoo mail applications, because Yahoo doesn't supports POP mails in any device. But in this you get the full functions of Yahoo mail like Sent, Draft, Trash, Spams etc.
How it performs (your rating) - Very Very good

App name - MSN Droid
Free/Charge - Free
What it does - MSN Messenger
How it performs (your rating) - Very very good

NFS2024 · 27th December 2010, 13:03

Guys - need a small help on my galaxy s. Am not able to play songs in my car using USB. Initially for a couple of days, it played the songs through the USB and kies. Now, once i plug in, the Kies is connected, the HU starts reading for 10 seconds, but after that nothing happens.

Can you pls let me know what the problem can be?

Thanks in advance.

jassi · 27th December 2010, 13:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by NFS2024

Guys - need a small help on my galaxy s. Am not able to play songs in my car using USB. Initially for a couple of days, it played the songs through the USB and kies. Now, once i plug in, the Kies is connected, the HU starts reading for 10 seconds, but after that nothing happens.

Can you pls let me know what the problem can be?

Thanks in advance.

maybe the sd card is corrupted or something - just goto settings->storage and format the card from the phone itself and then copy the songs back into it. Hopefully that should work.
Edit - not sure what kies is, something samsung specific i guess. Ideally (from nexus one experience), when connected to usb, the phone should prompt 'usb connected act as data store' or something similar

26th December 2010, 17:56	#1171
vvrchandra BHPian Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Vijayawada-AP Posts: 353 Thanked: 223 Times	re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods Jassi, I guess the HTC Desire HD does not have a front facing camera for video calls. Is there any other way one can achieve this using the lone 8mp camera?
	() Thanks

26th December 2010, 18:22	#1172
BaCkSeAtDrIVeR BANNED Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Kochi Posts: 2,522 Thanked: 752 Times	re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods Can somebody please rank the different screen types (LED / AMOLED, etc, resistive / capacitive etc) on some crieteria? Also, people may find this interesting:- Android Developers Blog: It’s not “rooting”, it’s openness Also, it may be noted that there are alternatives to Google's market place; there aint any alternatives for OVI. VLC For Android May Arrive In Early 2011 - Slashdot
	() Thanks

26th December 2010, 18:49	#1173
SchumiFan Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,041 Thanked: 1,161 Times	Re: Android applications Some of the apps I am currently using in my LG P500: App name - Dolphin Browser HD Free/Charge - Free What it does - An alternative to the phone's in-built browser How it performs (your rating) - Excellent. Supports pinch zoom and can open multi-tabs. Gestures for various actions to be performed in the browser (close, back, forward etc). App name - AVG Anti-Virus Free/Charge - Free What it does - Anti-virus software to scan and clean the phone. Has real-time scanning too and scans each app downloaded from market and each file loaded into phone How it performs (your rating) - Good. Made me stop installing apps that haven't been downloaded from the Android market.
	() Thanks

26th December 2010, 19:45	#1174
Bluengel180 BHPian Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Pune Posts: 270 Thanked: 676 Times	re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods Resistive. A resistive touchscreen panel is composed of several layers, the most important of which are two thin, metallic, electrically conductive layers separated by a narrow gap. When an object, such as a finger, presses down on a point on the panel’s outer surface the two metallic layers become connected at that point. This causes a change in the electrical current which is registered as a touch event and sent to the controller for processing. Capacitive. A capacitive touchscreen panel consists of an insulator such as glass and coated with a transparent conductor. As the human body is also a conductor, touching the surface of the screen results in a distortion of the body’s electrostatic field, measurable as a change in capacitance. Boring. Now that’s out of the way, let’s look at the key differences between the two: Capacitive is the newer technology and more expensive to manufacture. Too much layers on a resistive panel reflects ambient light so display is poorer against sunlight compared to capacitive. Capacitive uses your electron-rich finger as contact. Gloved fingers or inanimate objects doesn’t work. Resistive panels only require pressure. You can use your fingers, stylus or even your fingernail. Multi-touch won’t work with resistive touchscreen as opposed to capacitive. So now you know which devices uses a capacitive and a resistive touchscreen. I hope you would also learn that there’s no clear winner here. Each technology has its own use. It is also clear that it is a major disadvantage for capacitive touchscreen-based devices to sell well in cold countries. AMOLED or Active matrix organic light emitting diode is the latest display technology used in today’s products such as mobile phones and televisions. Some of its advantages over the existing LCD and LED display technologies are as follows:- They are extremely thin and weigh a lot lesser than conventional displays They can be bent! yes!, this makes them resistant to breakage and are extremely rugged Lower power consumption – The screen lights up, hence they do not require backlights (LCDs and LEDs do) Superior image quality – Remember the light that is emitted from the display screen is from the actual screen, which means unlike conventional displays, a backlight is not used, which means higher contrast ratios and better colour reproduction Hence the best combo will be capacitive + amoled
	() Thanks

26th December 2010, 21:25	#1175
srishiva Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 4,375 Thanked: 2,256 Times	re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods Except Nokia other manufacturers are making most of their phones without the front facing camera. They dont think Video calling is a good feature to have?
	() Thanks

26th December 2010, 23:58	#1176
BaCkSeAtDrIVeR BANNED Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Kochi Posts: 2,522 Thanked: 752 Times	re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods Thanks, blueenger. Srishiva - right now, only BSNL / MTNL provide 3G video conferencing; and the recent order to that effect (hardly one week) has stirred up a storm in the operator's.
	() Thanks

27th December 2010, 05:30	#1179
abhayshanu BHPian Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Mumbai Posts: 708 Thanked: 324 Times View My Garage	re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods If the camera and sound is great, there is not much more doubt about it. As you told that the HD would cost 27k here but I saw the prices online being the same or a little more.
	() Thanks

27th December 2010, 06:38	#1180
revtech Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 1,992 Thanked: 38 Times View My Garage	Re: Android applications App name - Skyfire Free/Charge - Free What it does - An alternative to the phone's inbuilt browser How it performs (your rating) - Excellent. Supports pinch zoom and can open multi-tabs. also says it plays some videos which normally wouldnt be possible with 2.1.i prefer it over the dolphin browser..
	() Thanks

27th December 2010, 11:07	#1181
jassi BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Melbourne Posts: 980 Thanked: 11 Times View My Garage	re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods in Aussie, it cost us 800 dollars including delivery - so not cheap here. here is the cnet aussie review HTC Desire HD Review - Smartphones & PDA Phones But yeah US you can get it for much cheaper, if its launched there and I am quite sure its not. If you are getting something from the US - get the Google Nexus S for 500 bucks!! Its google's official phone, updates directly provided by google - 2 cameras, et al - its a no brainer!! Nexus S ? The new Android phone from Google
	() Thanks

27th December 2010, 11:16	#1182
ruchirtnt Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 1,065 Thanked: 125 Times View My Garage	Re: Android applications App name - NFS Free/Charge - Bought at Rs. 46.7 What it does - Car racing How it performs (your rating) - mobile version of worlds most famous game; NFS, good one.
	() Thanks

27th December 2010, 11:37	#1183
hiren959 BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Ahmedabad Posts: 344 Thanked: 63 Times	Re: Android applications App name - Google Sky Map Free/Charge - Free What it does - Just hold your mobile at a star or planet, it gives you the name and many more How it performs (your rating) - Very very good. App name - Yahoo mail Free/Charge - Free What it does - Very useful Yahoo mail applications, because Yahoo doesn't supports POP mails in any device. But in this you get the full functions of Yahoo mail like Sent, Draft, Trash, Spams etc. How it performs (your rating) - Very Very good App name - MSN Droid Free/Charge - Free What it does - MSN Messenger How it performs (your rating) - Very very good
	() Thanks

27th December 2010, 13:03	#1184
NFS2024 BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 840 Thanked: 444 Times	re: Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods Guys - need a small help on my galaxy s. Am not able to play songs in my car using USB. Initially for a couple of days, it played the songs through the USB and kies. Now, once i plug in, the Kies is connected, the HU starts reading for 10 seconds, but after that nothing happens. Can you pls let me know what the problem can be? Thanks in advance.
	() Thanks