Related
1. The PDA oftens crashes having previosuly used the phone
2. The TomTom 3 crashes haven driven a short distance
3. The GPRS connection won't connect for a second time without a reset
4. You cant have bluetooth on without flightmode turned off
5. Horizontal Black line across photos in bright light
6. The other caller gets a bad echo when I turn the speaker phone on, even at lowest volume.
7. The last email account added, doesnt download mail
The list goes on. This is truly a terrible device. If it wasnt for the times that things did work fully (rare) and the money I paid for it, it would truly be in the bin!!!
I have read the forums and even after all the hard work people have put in to try and isolate the problems, all of them seem to end up unconclusive regarding the issues I have. I am at my teathers end with this device (
How can the XDA people get away with this, surely they have been approacned about these things? And they say the 2i is better than the 2, blimey I dread to think.....
end rant, thanks for listening
a very disheartened XDA2i user
I recently got an XDAIIi and agree with your post, although 4 is understandable as you shouldn't really be using bluetooth on a plane
I think a lot of the problems are related to third-party software - it might be useful to compare lists of what we have installed, for example I tried out TomTom too and found it ruined the device's stability.
The multiple GPRS connection problem is probably caused by the GPRS monitor program that came on the CD. I had this problem, I uninstalled GPRS Monitor, and GPRS connects correctly every time now.
The camera software is completely flawed, each alternate horizontal line is interchanged before conversion to jpg hence the rubbish quality of the images. Not sure about the horisontal line, but in indoor evening light my XDAIIi was only able to take blurry silhouettes, probably a bug in the automatic brighness control. The camera driver seems to have been sloppily ported from a version for different hardware, and released untested.
The mic pick-up is terrible, and the AGC doesn't seem to make any difference, I get far more people unable to make out what I'm saying than with the plain XDAII. I presume this is another software bug in the AGC.
7 might actually be the bug with all pocketPCs - only the email account currently "open" will auto-download new items periodically.
Also the alarms seem even worse than on normal pocketPCs. As ever I installed WakeupTweak but this time I still missed alarms on a 60s wakup, and had to extend it to 90s.
I have installed Pocket Informant, TT3 (this didnt seem to make anything worse) and have a 1Gb Lexar SD. I did install the GPRS monitor but have since removed it. I think my SD card could be faster, but we keep making excuses for this device.
Re 4, well this was to experiment, as the TT3 crashing has been suggested to be caused by the phone changing cells, but being a Bluethooth GPS I needed flightmode on aswell as BT, which is just about possible but with no definded method other than to confuse it?!? Why the blue blazes they try to force these things I don't know!! I am hoping TT5 will improve this.
re 7. yes i undertand and accept that, but the last one I entered just wont do anything, but not too bothered.
So, as a phone, its rubbish (no speaker phone, crashes, bulky), as a camera it's especially rubbish, as a PDA its ok with wireless in the home, but so long as you dont ask it to do anything out of doors, or even indoors.
These appear on startup, they probably need updating, but not sure where to get the official UK ones
R 1.00.00
G 1337.39
D 1.10.00 WWE
Look forward to hearing about other peoples gripes, next stage with me is probably back to the shop and probably an arguement with some o2 dude.
Perhaps I'm being picky, perhaps I should be happy about giving money away for nothing.
Just scanning through your posts about the IIi. I have had one for about 6 weeks now and haven't experienced any of the problems you describe (not complaining, of course )
I agree that the camera and AGC are not great, but mine behaves itself -- almost typed 'perfectly' there, but that's tempting fate.
I have TT3.07 & Alturion (via a Navman 4410), PocketBreeze 4.3, SPB pocket Plus (+weather add-on)various wifi scanning type programs (I'm a computer tech), a bluetooth neckset, not headset/earpeice and misc. other GPSDash type apps.
Added to this I'm trialling some VITO (navigation/remote/voicedialler) apps and about 300MB of MP3's on a 1GB Sandisk SD card.
My Rom versions are the same as tauria's -- I guess we should all have the same -- there aren't any upgrades/mods yet are there?
The only thing I don't use is GPRS -- don't need it!, otherwise its straight out of the box and saturated in utils and mahjonng/solitaire ( a techies life is sometimes a solitary one :wink: )
I can't offer any advice or help with your problems because I'm not experiencing them, just wanted to add my experience to yours as a sort of balance.
Is it possible you have a couple of rogue devices? or is it possible someone just crayoned an 'i' on mine before sending it out :lol:
Me again, I have rememebered that I performed a hard reset and opted for a corporate install, based on some posts relating to the O2 Active software causing problems -- do you have this installed?
I seem to recall there were several thread on this issue, so I went the corporate route to minimise problems.
Maybe that's an area you could look at?
blackfoot I was wondering if you could answer a question.
I just got my mobile phone number transferred to my XDA's SIM today so have used it as a phone for the first time, if i switch off the device (so it's a black screen but phone still active) and it rings it switches on but it just freezes (this only happens with pocketbreeze on the today plugin) I see the fact that the phone is ringing but the box doesn't pop up.
Is there anyway to make pocketbreeze not refresh its data when a call is incoming ? Or does anyone have the same problem?
I need a device that is ready for the road. Something with excellent bluetooth support and good battery life. I see complaints and praise for the Wizard and can't help but wonder if it is really ready for people to depend on it.
Impressions?
It's ready for prime-time.
It ain't ready for prime-shipping! :lol:
Not ready
IMO it's not reliable. I've had numerous issues, but two in particularly make it dodgy for travel:
- on two occasions in two weeks the battery has run from ~75% down to ~2% in about 15 minutes while the phone was in standby!
- on several occasions I've turned it on (out of standby) and it was in flight mode. I never put it in flight mode. So it somehow decided itself to turn off the radio - meaning I missed calls and didn't know I was missing them.
I've also found the GPRS to be flaky and very slow (this is with Cingular in the USA). My old PDA2K was much more reliable.
Guys, we're still on release ROM. Just wait for the first patch for the most obvious bugs.
This said, your problems seem rather strange, never heard anyone having issues with the battery or radio before. :?
to simply answer your question; No, it's not ready.
there are still things to be sorted out and things to fix. if realiability is one of your main concerns, avoid the device for now.
It seems I am not the only one that have had "some pains" when using A2DP (="Stereo Bluetooth" / "Wireless Stereo"-bluetooth profile).
I thought I write down some tips for getting A2DP to work, and how to minimize the issues people are having...and hopefully others will fill in their tips...and maybe even prove me wrong (I have been wrong before...but what are the odds of that happening TWICE!?" ) on some points?
1. Challenge is getting a headset that supports A2DP, and works well with the Universal
I have had a pair of HP stereo headphones (these are only for music, does not have a microphone), a set of Motorola HT820 and a pair of i-Tech BluePRO. There are probably 20-30 other options as we speak (among other from Ericsson, Nokia, etc).
All the 3 ones I had worked with the Universal using A2DP to listen to music. Here are the PRO's and CON's for each of them from my point of view.
HP Stereo Headphones (same as Logitechs iPod BT headphones)
+ Clear and nice sound.
+ For "over the ear"-headphones, they were comfortable.
- Seems to be fairly sensitive for stuttering/lag/gaps when used for A2DP...at least is MY headset like that!
- Poor batterycapasity (approx 8 hours)
- Not an mini-usb plug (since the JasJar use mini-USB...less cables to bring)
- lacks a little bass wise (at least compared to the i-Techs)
i-Tech BluePRO
+ Seems to have fairly little prob with "lag/suttering" (my specific headset has almost no issues with it at least!)
+ Great bass (a BIG plus for me...I love techno-music
+ Great batterylife (approx 20 hours, and even more if you buy a 2500mah rechargable AA battery)
+ Can play very loud...if you want to that is (actually louder than my wired Koss headphones)
+ Uses 1 AA battery (I felt this was a CON first, but now that I have bought some 2500mah rechargable AA batteries, this actually is a "pro")
- "fuzzy" sound (compared to HP and Motorola HT820, the sound is slighty "fuzzy"...I noticed it when I swapped from Motorola to these, but have not noticed afterwards...so for HiFi people it might be a big CON, for me it was not).
- Reconnect not as expected (will not automatically reconnect to Universal when it is turned off and then on again)
- not very good for phonecalls (people are sometimes complaining it is hard to hear me)
Motorola HT820
+ Clear and nice sound.
+ Great microphone (people on other end say I am crystal clear, even when I walk outside)
+ Good batterylife (15 hours I think)
+ Charges over MiniUSB (hurrah, can use the Universal sync/charge cable)
+ Reconnects as expected (if you turn on the headset it will automatically reconnect with Universal)
- Seems to be fairly sensitive for stuttering/lag/gaps when used for A2DP (not an issue with phonecalls it seems)...at least is MY headset like that!
- ucomfortable to wear over time (after around two hours, they "hurt the ears", due to the way they hang over the ears...might be my ears though
- lacks a little bass wise (at least compared to the i-Techs)
I think that just about any person would chose the Motorola's over the i-Tech's anytime.
...but I am not everyone...so I personally use the i-Tech...and that is ONLY because of the "heavy bass", "loud soundlevel" and "closed earmuffs"...since that means I can listen to music/podcasts in even noisy environments and get what I define as "good sound" (="lots and lots of bass"
[UPDATE 1. august 2006]
I used my Motorola's again when I was on vacation (have used only the iTechs for several months now), and suddenly had a lot of lag/stuttering again...an issue I thought I had resolved with registryfixes and new ROM's.
...but "suddenly" I could not walk around with my headset and listen to "gapless music in stereo"...I could not do a workout at the gym with them, even when the Universal was 2-3 meters away from me...I would get gaps/lags once every minute or so.
With my iTech's this problem is almost non-existent. ...I wrongly thought this issue was fixed on the Universal-side, with the latest ROM's I installed, so forth...but it seems that at least "part of the problem" was the headsets themselves (my Motorola HT820's and my HP headset seems a quite a bit worse off in this regard than my iTech's).
My conlusion...test before you buy, since the headsets ALSO can influence the amount of lag/stuttering you get (as this was not complex enough as it was)!!!!
I am "happy" with my iTechs...but wish they automatically reconnected to Universal when I turn them on...and wish they were as good as the Motorola's for phonecalls.
[END OF UPDATE 1. august 2006]
2. Get a ROM which supports A2DP
This should not be to hard today, you can for example install the latest QTEK ROM (I use the WWE/english ROM, not sure of status on the other versions). Jwright (a user on this forum) have made a custom ROM which also contains A2DP and PushMail, and I know there are quite a few other "official ROM's" with A2DP...but I do not have that overview.
I do not have a QTEK 9000 myself, but actually a "Norwegian i-Mate JasJar"...but I was able to install the QTEK ROM, and U should be able to do it too, regardsless of version of Universal you have. ...it might be a rough ride though, you might need to search these forum and read up on the Wiki pages on how to get around "DeviceID" and "CountryID" issues...but is IS solveable (later I might update this with some direct links to some of those guides posts).
[UPDATE 14.06.2006, tip from "cktlcmd"]
The following are the ROMs with A2DP and AKU2 support (Battery icon replaced Time):
****QTEK ROM (latest ROM)
****T-Mobile NL (latest ROM)
****JWright's Modified ROM (latest ROM)
The following is the only ROM with A2DP support (No AKU2) but with the Time icon still showing:
****JWright's Modified I-Mate ROM (1st test released ROM)
You can find a lot of different ROM installation files here; ftp://xda:[email protected]/Universal/Shipped_Complete_Updates/
PS!
If You have an AKU2 ROM (the ones with PushMail), and do not have A2DP, you can add it with a patch originally made for the HTC Tornado. I have tried this myself with an Norwegian iMate AKU2 ROM that did not have A2DP...and it worked!
It should work on other Windows Mobile 5 devices also (as long as they have AKU2). Then you do not have to reinstall your device from scratch...with all the work that usually involves (in getting everything back to exactly you like it).
You can read about it, and download file from here; http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=48491&highlight=tornado+a2dp+patch
So how do I know if I have A2DP or not
When you have bonded with your A2DP-able headset, you should under "Bluetooth Setttings", under the tab "Devices", among other see your headset (for me this is listed as; "i.Tech BluePRO").
If you tap-and-hold this, you will get a context-menu that should contain "Set as Wireless Stereo", if you see that text, you have A2DP. I see for example the following;
Edit
Delete
Set as Hands-free
Set as Wireless Stereo
If anyone reading this know a better/easier way to verify if one has A2DP, feel free to tell me/us...so it is easier for people to check this!
3. Choosing a musicplayer to use on the Universal with A2DP
OK, you have A2DP setup, you have a headset...which musicsoftware should/can you use.
In teory, you should be able to use whatever music software you use today, TCPMP, PocketMusic, MortPlayer, Windows Media Player, so forth. Cause all sounds is sent to the headset (but strangely MortPlayer struggles at least). But you might have problems with AVRCP (AVRCP bluetooth profile, makes it possible to change tracks and play/pause/resume the music from buttons on the headset...very convienient when the Universal is in the rugsack for example).
MortPlayer (exellent player...but A2DP-vise...unfortunately...no)
http://www.sto-helit.de/modules/wmpdownloads/viewcat.php?cid=4
I have always before used a musicplayer called MortPlayer.
The reason for using that one, was that it is incredebly tuned for "doing everything without taking out the stylus" (big buttons everywhere), and that it has an insane amount of options (you can for example set it to always start with a specific voulme, start playing the last song you heard, at the position in the song you left it, and when you quit the sound is set back to what it was before starting it. You can even tell it that a specific folder is "soundbooks", and then it will always remember last listened position of all files in it).
But with A2DP MortPlayer unfortunately does not work well, I get only sound on the left speaker, and the AVRCP buttons do not work. So MortPlayer I must unfortunately leave for now! :-(
Windows Media Player (works...but I "hate" it
You can of course use the built in Windows Media Player. It works with A2DP, and it support AVRCP. There is two (and in my eyes BIG such ones) problems with WMP.
One reason is that is is unbelievably painfull to use in daily use...every time you start it, it "forgets" where you left off the last time, and you have to choose "Storage Card" (it seems to choose "Main Memmory" as default library on startup?), then find the album or playlist and play it...and the areas to click on the screen to do all this requires the stylus (or a "precision finger".
Another reason, is that the play/pause/resume button is not working 100% for all headsets (my HP headset seem to work fine, the iTech and Motorola seems to only work once, then I have to click the next time on the Universal, and then it will work one again...not much use in realworld scenarios).
One big bonus with WMP is that it is already installed, and AVRCP and A2DP works "out of the box", nothing you have to do.
PocketMusic (great, AVRCP works flawlessly)
http://www.pocketmind.com/pocketmusic.htm
This is in my eyes a very good musicplayer for "the go", much like MortPlayer (even though I think MortPlayer is better...with a wired headset that is). It can be set up so that it contines exactly at the same point in the same song as you quit it the day before, and look and behold, AVRCP work with it...and not just that...here the play/pause/resume button works flawlessly (which it does not for WMP for some headsets it seems)...at least with all my 3 headsets.
I now use PocketMusic. The minus with it is that it costs money, but it is well worth it (for me at least). And you can test/use it for free for 15 days or something like that, so you can "test before you buy".
TCPMP (works, at least sound vise)
http://tcpmp.corecodec.org/download
I do not use TCPMP (I use it for video, were I believe it is THE player to use...but not for music...too much fidling with the stylus in my view, but that's just my opinion), so I can not say tomuch about it...but I tested and the sound worked at least over A2DP. I did not get the AVRCP buttons to work...but I have seen some people saying "on the web" that it is possible to use...but I do not "how".
4. Stuttering/lag when using A2DP
A2DP works great...but there is at least one issue that can put most people off, and that is that you can get some stuttering/lag in the sound. This can feel like this; You listen to your music, all is great, and suddenly there is no sound at all for a second or so, and suddenly the music continues, and then it is silent, and then it plays again. Sometimes you get one of these, and no problems for hours, and other extreemes can be that the twice every second the sound disapears and appears all the time, until you give up, curse the "damn A2DP", and in best case puts your headphones hard on the table.
REASON 1: Universal is strugling (CPU/RAM)
One reason for stuttering can be that the JasJar is struggling performance vise. To help with this you can do the following;
1. Install "A2DP priority patch"
This is done by adding a value to the registy of your Universal, you can manually enter the registry value, or use a CAB-file or a REG-file someone has prepared.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=46811&highlight=a2dp+lag+patch
2. Kill background programs (or do a soft reset)
When you get this problem, it can also be because of some program working in the background.
But as we all know...there is some rare moments when our PDA's/phones' just seem to be living its own life. I have had occations when there is no programs running, and the phone stills is incredible sluggish, and I can see the menus getting drawen painfully slow. ...and of course, if your PDA gets one of those "I-do-not-want-to-coperate"-moments, A2DP or your music player will struggle...but then it really is not an A2DP issue, since you most likely would have had the same problem with a wired headset.
REASON 2: Radio connection is disturbed (object obstructing signal, WiFi nearby, so forth)
It seems that the connection can be very sensitive for obstructions (between Universal and headset). For example, if I have the Universal in a pocket in my pants, while walking around...I can sometimes get lag/stuttering all the time. If I put it in my rugsack, it stutters very rearly...and if I hold it still in my hand in front of me (OK, you look very stupid doing this, it will not stutter at all.
But if I put it on the table, and walk around the room, and even walk into another room, and will be around 10 meters away, it might not stutter. So I assume it depends of what kind of material is between the Universal and headset, and also the amount of it...but also it will depend on the "general amount of radio disturbance" in that area (an area with a lot of WiFi equipment/Bluetooth signals might be a lot worse that an area with little or no such equipment).
In general for me, I have practically no problems when I walk around with it in my rugsack, and generally have a little (and sometimes a lot of) stuttering when I have my universal in my pant-pockets.
I also have no disturbance at home or at the Gym (as long as I have the Universal around 8-12 meters away from me), but at work (Telecom company with lot of radiotransmitters around) it works at best 3-4 meters maybe. All of this without obstructions.
"Hearing the root-cause"
If you have done all this, and still get stuttering, here is a tip for understanding WHERE the issue is. It seems that you actually can hear if it is an "Universal struggling"-issue, or an "radio-disturbance" issue...
If the sound is continuing exactly where it left of, when it stopped...then it is the Universal that is struggling. Meaning, if you hear a podcast and they say; "The president of...[silence]...the united states of America, Bush said today...", then it is the Universal that is struggling, and you could try to close some programs a soft reset or similar.
If the sound does not continue exactly where it left of, like; "The president of...[silence]...Bush said today", then it is an issue with radio disturbance in some form.
...and with this knowledge, you hopefully will be able to resolve it.
Hope this extreeemly long post will be usefull for someone, feel free to comment/correct/add info and experiences...so that "A2DP newbies" get an easier start than us!
Excellent post, just what I need to know as I have just ordered the Motorola HS820.
Two questions - am I correct in thinking that the latest official UK O2 XDA Exec Rom does not include the a2dp profile?
And if so, which ROM should I go for - I don't need push email, and I want as little branding as possible.
Thanks.
Hi Pantaloonie,
I do not know if "latest official UK O2 XDA Exec ROM" have A2DP, hopefully someone else reading this will know and respond.
There is a lot of official ROM out there (ftp://xda:[email protected]/Universal/Shipped_Complete_Updates), but the only two english ROM's that I know for certain that have A2DP is (but I think there are more now);
Jwrights customized ROM (I have not gotten hold of this)
QTEK WWE ROM (ftp://xda:[email protected]_WWE_13077_130176_10900_WWE_Ship_GR2.0.1.exe
)
[WARNING] It seems that my link above is NOT to the ENGLISH version, but to a GREEK version of the ROM!!!!
I will try out myself at home, and change the link to the correct ROM...but can't do this at work...
And if you want to have minimal operator customization, I think the QTEK ROM's are fairly basic ones. And in worst case you can softreset when the installation starts installing all the apps from ExtendedROM when you do an installation of the ROM. But then you will also often miss some utillities that you actually want to use.
Another alternative is to "cook your own ROM" (I did this for my old Qtek9090), but then you can expect to spend a day or two reading up on this forum, downloading the tools for doing this, and creating you own ExtendedRom. If I get hold of Jwrights customized ROM, I will update my post here though.
Excellent post!
The following are the ROMs with A2DP and AKU2 support (Battery icon replaced Time):
****QTEK ROM (latest ROM)
****T-Mobile NL (latest ROM)
****JWright's Modified ROM (latest ROM)
The following is the only ROM with A2DP support (No AKU2) but with the Time icon still showing:
****JWright's Modified I-Mate ROM (1st test released ROM)
Excellent post dude...you just saved me a ton load of internet research...you should do this more often...keep up the good work
cktlcmd, thanks for the great input!!!
Have added it to my original post, so that others reading this post, don't have to scan through all comments...not a problem right now...but might be harder when more people start giving tips and comments!
Pantaloonie, cktlcmd and youmeus, thanks for the positive feedback! Hopefully at lot of other will fill this with more experiences and tips! ...and I will try to summarize all tips into my original post, so that it is as up-to-date as possible!
This topic is under the Universal category, however everything listed in the initial post should be applicable to any device trying to get A2DP to work cleanly.
However, I believe there are several of us that have tried each of the suggested solutions and it still hasn't resolved the lagging issues. I'd be interested in learning about any debugging tools that could be used to figure out the root cause. Are there any kind of system tracing tools available or even a tool that could list process/thread and device driver priorities that could provide some clues. Is there some way we can determine if it's cpu limited, bandwidth limited (cpu to bt i/o?), interrupt related, etc.
I would also be interested in figuring out if there are any tweeks that can be applied to the bta2dp.dll driver other than setting the priority. For example what is the Flags parameter in the registry used for? It's currently set to 65538 on my device. Could it be a buffer size? A baud rate? Anyone know?
It seems to me if we figure out the root cause then it could even help people where A2DP is working so-so, but only if they close all apps, overclock, etc. To me doing these things is just a workaround until we figure out the real issue.
HS820 aren't stereo. HT820 Are... Great post otherwise
Aah...one can very easily use the Tornado A2Dp posted in the prophet section with any of the AKU2 ROMs...I hv successfully used with Nokia HS 12W...with FM..it works...really works
hdubli, are you saying that it actually works with Universal also? Do you have a direct link to the file in that case, so others easily find the correct file.
ady, thanks will correct post, HT820 it is, I remembered it was someting with "820" at least!
hannip, I put it under Universal since I only had experience with Universal in this regard, and also the ROM's...but if I get some tip/help/assistance from others... ;-)
hannip, I seem to have almost no problems anymore, and most of the times I have had lag/stuttering, it seems to have been "radio disturbance" that have been the problem...now I have learned when it work and when it doesn't, and have very seldom any problems. for example having JasJar in rugsack when I walk, and not in frontpocket of pants. ...and due to the size of JasJar you need a rugsack anyway!
That said, I agree it certainly wouldn't hurt to understand more about root-causes.
Will try to find out name of a app I used a year ago, which showed CPU utillation, memmory and processes.
I must quit now, my girlfriend complains about the irritating clicking from the keys of my JasJar here...
Hannip,
Searched for a tool (and tested all I found) you asked for...here is results...
Performance Monitor (does NOT work on WM5...made for Casio E-10x...veeery long time ago I had one
http://www.thumbsupsoft.com/maphtm/pemon.html
Downloaded, installed it on JasJar. Starts up, but only shows ProgramMemory and MainMemory, but no graph, nor any threads)...and does not completely uninstall either!
MemMaid 1.6 (Works on WM5)
http://www.dinarsoft.com/
I have this myself, is not really an monitoring app, but it also can show all running processes (not programs, like built in simmilar program for this) and their memmory usage. On my JasJar when builtin app shows 1 running app (MemMaid), MemMaid shows 17 running processes (and that they take up approx 22MB!).
Great app...but gives no info about CPU utilization unfortunately.
PMH TaskManager (does NOT work on WM5)
http://www.phm.lu/products/PocketPC/TaskMgr/
This one looked really promissing; "Display the running processes with their IDs, number of threads, CPU time, priority and complete path...".
But also is an PocketPC 2002 app, and on the JasJar it only shows process name...no info on CPU time, priority, so forth! :-(
SuperTasks 2.0 (YEEES, it works...and do what we want!!!)
http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=14661
This one shows CPU time pr process, and a graph for total CPU usage (among other), much like task manager om your PC (if you're one of the Windows-people that is.
It has a 30 day trial, so you should be able to test a lot before deciding to buy or not.
Did an "unscientific" test using SuperTask.
I had no other applications running, started after soft reset all times (but of course WindowsMobile will run some background tasks, but since I soft reset each time it should be at least simmilar for all tests). I played same MP3 track that is encoded with 192 Kbps.
Here is the results;
PocketMusic with A2DP
40-45% CPU
PocketMusic without A2DP
20-25% CPU
WindowsMediaPlayer with A2DP
35-40% CPU
WindowsMediaPlayer without A2DP
15-20% CPU
So A2DP (if we trust this "unscientific test"!) takes approx 20% CPU, and WMP takes approx 10% less CPU than PocketMusic (but I still prefer PocketMusic due to usabillity issues).
And this seems to fit with my experiences with A2DP on my JasJar...I seldom have problems with my JasJar outputting...it is a problem normally with BT signal/connection between JasJar and headset...and that is reduced by keeping them close, few/little objects between them.
...but then again...other people might have more CPU intensive apps running on the Universal than me, and therefore get a problem due to the approx 20% CPU usage of A2DP.
UPDATE: Made a seperate post for the test with more info...here http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=53717
I got this from the wizard forum. Apparently there is a free task manager which works on universal as well and shows plenty of info. Can't find the thread though
ady said:
I got this from the wizard forum. Apparently there is a free task manager which works on universal as well and shows plenty of info. Can't find the thread though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, that's a pretty cool app, however the cpu utilization doesn't seem to work for all apps. With PocketMusic playing it shows 0 % cpu for that process. It claims my Idle is 90% with PocketMusic over A2DP. That just can't be correct. Gonna try SuperTasks next.
Using SuperTasks I see the following stats
PocketMusic w/A2DP 15-25% cpu
services.exe 4-6% cpu
device.exe 5-15% cpu
everything else was 0.
So cpu-wise the device doesn't seem to be stressed. What I am hearing is from 2 to 15 seconds of music that gets paused for about a second before it continues. When it continues it sounds like the music is sped up for a moment as if it were trying to catch up.
It's almost like some kind of flow control start and stops. I've tested this in a wireless free area so I don't think it's interference related.
Neither one of these tools show priorities from what I could see. I'm still looking for something that can show process/threads and service priorities.
Mmm how do you get Pocketmusic and AVRCP to work?
I cant get it to work at all......WMP works fine with my HT820's but not with Pocketmusic.
DaveUK said:
Mmm how do you get Pocketmusic and AVRCP to work?
I cant get it to work at all......WMP works fine with my HT820's but not with Pocketmusic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What version are you using? Try the latest one.
http://www.pocketmind.com/files/pmusic.zip
Note that you should disable gapless playback if you experience hangs when switching tracks.
hannip said:
So cpu-wise the device doesn't seem to be stressed. What I am hearing is from 2 to 15 seconds of music that gets paused for about a second before it continues. When it continues it sounds like the music is sped up for a moment as if it were trying to catch up.
It's almost like some kind of flow control start and stops. I've tested this in a wireless free area so I don't think it's interference related.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree that this does not sound like "interference related". I think that when you have "interference"/"BT signal" issues, you will just loose some of the sound, while when it is JasJar issues it continues where it left of, or sometimes sound like it suddenly speeds up for a short while to catch up.
The behaviour you have here, I have not heard at all in at least a month, and I use A2DP a couple of hours every day...so it makes me wonder if there is something in the ROM that you have or some software on your JasJar that I don't have...!?
Maybe we should compare ROM versions, what services that are running in background of device, what apps we have installed currently, so forth? ...we probably won't find anything...but maybe worth a try!?
BTW
I DID have that issue a lot before though, and I don't really remember exactly WHEN I got rid of it, if it was manually entering the "A2DP lag patch", or if it was uninstalling some software...since I tried so many things in that period to resolve it...it just works pretty well now (except of course that it sometimes lags if there is to much obstructions between headset/JasJar).
On sunday (first time I have chance to "play again" ), I will also test with my Motorola HT820's again...just to verify that it works just as well with those headphones as it does with my iTech headset. ...it would really surprise me if that has had an effect...but I do not remember when it started to work fine...and "desperate people try desperate things"!
hannip said:
DaveUK said:
Note that you should disable gapless playback if you experience hangs when switching tracks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahhhh thats the reson for those anoying delays!
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For some reason the version I downloaded direct from their website was 4.03
The copy you sent works like a charm with AVRCP.
Thanks alot!!!!!!!!!!!
hannip said:
DaveUK said:
Mmm how do you get Pocketmusic and AVRCP to work?
I cant get it to work at all......WMP works fine with my HT820's but not with Pocketmusic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What version are you using? Try the latest one.
http://www.pocketmind.com/files/pmusic.zip
Note that you should disable gapless playback if you experience hangs when switching tracks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
I have an offer for buying O2 Atom for over 300$ which I thing is pretty cheap. But everywhere I look about this PocketPC I read mainly problems and crashes and ect.
So I want to know from you, owners of this device - is it worthed to buy this pocket or to stay with my current phone - the Nokia N80?
10x in advance
I actually chose an Atom Exec over an N80 and have not regretted it...havent had any problems in the couple of months ive had it
I've been using mine since August and have once had to soft-reset it. A very, very happy Atom Pure user here.
Note: I upgraded to the latest firmware which was incredibly easy and straight forward.
I got an Atom, original, for a really cut rate.
It's otherwise pretty good, but the default speakers leave MUCH to be desired. The music playing from them cracks up at high volumes. The only reason why I haven't gone back to O2 yet is that it has already gone back via its previous owner. Twice. And it still comes back with the same issue.
(the earphone quality, however, is fab.)
Then there's also battery life, but then again, my old O2 mini barely lasts a day and a half as well. I might be in the market for that Mugen Power after all...
Thing about smart devices is - they aren't just phones. They are computers. They act like computers, and even crash like computers. If you find that unacceptable, don't buy a smart device. Even the supposedly stable Symbian OS hangs a hell lot. >_>
Personally, I'd think twice about buying an Atom. But at around $300 you're probably not too bad off.
My only problem with the Atom is that I still don't think they've got the Radio stack right, especially with Bluetooth. And since they have already superceded the Atom with the Exec and the Stealth, I doubt whether they are going to concentrate on any updates to the Atom software/firmware.
I've recently handed my Atom over to my son and purchased an N80. I'm waiting for the N95 to come out but will give that another 9-12 months to stabilise. I want a phone. The Atom is a great PDA that is also a phone. The N80 and N95 are great phones that also have great PDA capabilities. I don't really need a computer in my pocket.
No please don't , the high pitch noise which comes out of it is a pain , voice quality sucks , even the camera is horrible , plus no keyboard , it;'s good for paperwieght though
atom vs jamin
i have been using jamin for about 1 year and recently changed to atom. Atom is pretty fast, sound, and camera much better than jamin, but difficult to configure for GPRS on PC, and at times resets when connected to GPRS on PPC. Display resolution of atom is better, but jamin has a wonderful bright display. Overall jamin is a very stable device, speed improves with overclocking, and if you use TCPMP or core player and do proper conversion of video files, e.g divX format, quality is very good, otherwise windows media player is very poor. Atom has another problem of heating in battery area when you use GPRS continuously for long time (e.g downloading files). Battery life of atom is not as bad as reported by some members.
$300 for an Atom is an excellent price. The Atom doesn't crash anymore than any other PC unless you are treating it bad -- generally people who complain about PPC problems don't know what they're doing and are damaging their phones' setups with bad practices.
My Atom Exec has never crashed on me from normal use, and I bought it second hand. To think someone else was screwing with it before me! I just did a hard reset and set it up the way I wanted it. The only times I had to soft reset was after experimenting with new software. Just backup your phone before that just in case.
The only real problem I had with my Exec was the battery life, which is really abyssmal. But removing the O2 Plus application and making sure "Receive All Incoming Beams" option is off helps a lot. I don't even lower my backlight; I hate doing that. But you'll still only get like 3 days tops for moderate usage, usually less.
Another issue I had was with the Exec overheating; using WiFi drains the battery and makes it really hot really fast. Using the camera also does this, as does any other CPU-intensive app.The bad thing about this is that it can cause problems if too hot; like your camera gets really screwed if the device is too hot. A reset followed by cooling it off fixes it though.
usmjan said:
i have been using jamin for about 1 year and recently changed to atom. Atom is pretty fast, sound, and camera much better than jamin, but difficult to configure for GPRS on PC, and at times resets when connected to GPRS on PPC. Display resolution of atom is better, but jamin has a wonderful bright display. Overall jamin is a very stable device, speed improves with overclocking, and if you use TCPMP or core player and do proper conversion of video files, e.g divX format, quality is very good, otherwise windows media player is very poor. Atom has another problem of heating in battery area when you use GPRS continuously for long time (e.g downloading files). Battery life of atom is not as bad as reported by some members.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know about the Atom but I thought the Atom Exec had better screen quality than the JAMIN. Also I thought both had the exact same resolution.
As for the N95, isn't it "what computers have become" LOL
It's good if you can live with its quirks
I've had mine for over a year now and I keep encountering these problems:
- it crashes often. A soft-reboot fixes it but it's annoying when i'm in the middle of a program. These could also be due to the programs i've loaded in it. Sometimes though it's the built in programs that freezes it, like the camera.
- battery life is pretty low- Less than a day. I have another 02, the XPhone II and the battery in that one lasts me 3 days.
- The hands free bluetooth headset isn't REALLY HANDS-FREE. Everytime I have to make a voice call, I have to hold down one of the buttons then announce a contact's name. Annoying really because it defeats the purpose of it being hands-free. The bluetooth works really well w/ my XPhoneII
- BIGGEST PROBLEM right now for me is that the battery drained to 0 and the unit shut down. Now I can't seem to charge the battery anymore?? The suggestion to charge the unit w/o the battery first then w/ the battery didn't work. So right now, I have a small brick in my hand and still awaiting help.
I've never had an issue with the built in camera crap crashing the phone, but then I don't use the camera often.
Often times crashing on PPC devices is due to the odd software loaded into it; my old PPC crashed a lot from Dinomite (a PopCap game ported by Astraware to PPC) and my current PC crashes from Monopoly.
Also running too many programs at the same time, especially the ones that do background processes, will cause it to crash. Taskbar managers like vBar and pBar are your friend.
The battery life is indeed abyssmal but it is just slighlyt below par with other PPC devices with this kind of processor. You can't compare it to the XPhone, which is only a smartphone. By the way, to improve your battery life uninstall that dreadful O2 Plus it drains your battery like crazy.
As for bluetooth handsfree I don't think there exists a trully "handsfree" solution anywhere yet. Every voice option needs you to at least press a button to activate it.
As for your phone dying now well sorry I don't know maybe it just up and gave up. Could be the new Quanta hardware isn't so durable.
I've never participated in a forum where experienced members refused to assist others. Even other xda forums seem more helpful than this Athena forum.
I bought an x7501 off ebay a few days ago, and I've been playing with it. It's performance is not consistent, and I'm wondering if it is defective.
It was sold as NIB (new in box) and it appeared to be unopened when I received it, but I can't be 100% certain that is the case.
Some simple operations are grossly slow. The problems are intermittent, the worse kind to trouble shoot. Recently, I tapped on the CommManager icon on the Today screen at it took 15 seconds to open CommManager.
When I first received the unit, I installed Google Maps and tried out the GPS. I was able to connect to GPS inside my house. This morning I couldn't connect in my car, and when I stopped the car, I tried to connect standing outside in the open. After about five minutes, it wouldn't connect, so I went inside my house, and after a few more minutes, it did connect. While I was waiting for it to connect, I got my Kaiser and opened Google Maps and connected to GPS withing a few seconds outside in the open.
I had installed Opera 9.5 beta and NetFront 3.5 as well as RealVGA and MvRTrueVGA, and after running into strange display artifacts and bugs in the beta browsers, I decided to clear everything out, and ran the Clear Storage utility in System Settings. I had done this once before when trouble shooting failed attempts to connect the Athena to my Belkin Pre-N WiFi router.
So, now, all that's installed other than the what came on the phone is Google Maps and NetFront 3.5.
The battery performance is also a bit strange to me. It seems to be discharging even when I have it connected to my computer using the USB cable. Nothing is open in the background, and I wasn't using it, but it showed 70% when I connected it, and thirty minutes later it showed 60%. Is that normal?
Is the ROM that shipped with the phone questionable?
Might I get better, more reliable, more consistent performance with one of the ROMs available here?
I'm not ready to give up, but I'm not encouraged at the moment, and I'm not sure what to do next.
May I suggest Dual PK 3.0. Try backing up all that you have now and flash it with Dual PK and let us know the update.
Regarding the battery drain issue, most computer USB ports and non-factory chargers don't give enough power to even maintain (let alone charge) if you have all the radios on. Especially the GPS radio which seems to need a lot of power - I can go all day with the cell and bluetooth radios on and still have 90% charge after 16 hours, with little cell or internet use. But if I turn on the GPS it will be discharged within a few hours.
Computer USB ports are usually limited to 500 milliamps, and some chargers are less, so the only good solution is to only use the factory charger if you have everything on. Turn down your screen brightness, too. I leave mine at 50% both on the battery and when plugged in, except in full sunlight.
As for the GPS reception, its very bad. I have a sirf/star mouse-style GPS unit which locks on within seconds in the middle of the 1st floor of my 2-story house, attached to my Palm or a computer. My X7501 usually won't lock on even when I'm near a window. I rarely have a problem outside or in my car, though. I'm one of many that have reported similar issues.
I usually don't see slowdown issues, but I sometimes do if the wifi or GPS radios are on. Try only running cell and bluetooth for a while and see if that helps. I also found that Opera would slow down more, and then more, and even more as the cache filled up, but that was after I changed it from the default "1000". I cleared my cache and changed it back to the default cache size and I've been fine since.
Hey TnT,
Thanks for the detailed feedback. I'm going to play with it some more. I'm planning on flashing a different ROM, as TT2 suggested.
Which ROM are you running?
Try PK dual black... but don't for get to Hard SPL...
Please don't install anythink on your Harddisk, just install on storage card... My athena run fastrer if i put seftware on SDcard... If install ti HD it will slower.. i've tried it
thanks cornelius, i'm in the process of gathering the info and parts to install a new ROM. I've downloaded the "AP Dual 3.0 ROM" - I think that's the same thing as the PK Dual Black. I've also downloaded the AthenaUnlocker.exe - I think that's the hard spl you mention.
I bought my phone unlocked - I gather that's SIM unlocked, and the AthenaUnlocker will CID unlock it, which is necessary before installing the new ROM.
I'm trying to confirm everything, so I don't brick the phone, but I'm the information is scattered all over the forum and wiki. I found two versions of AthenaUnlocker.exe, both version 1.0.0.0 with different time stamps. I tried to watch a video of unlocking, but there was no audio.
I would appreciate any additional pointers in the process.
Thanks
Im running the factory ROM.
xdafile said:
thanks cornelius, i'm in the process of gathering the info and parts to install a new ROM. I've downloaded the "AP Dual 3.0 ROM" - I think that's the same thing as the PK Dual Black. I've also downloaded the AthenaUnlocker.exe - I think that's the hard spl you mention.
I bought my phone unlocked - I gather that's SIM unlocked, and the AthenaUnlocker will CID unlock it, which is necessary before installing the new ROM.
I'm trying to confirm everything, so I don't brick the phone, but I'm the information is scattered all over the forum and wiki. I found two versions of AthenaUnlocker.exe, both version 1.0.0.0 with different time stamps. I tried to watch a video of unlocking, but there was no audio.
I would appreciate any additional pointers in the process.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just make sure you've got a fully charged battery before attempting to unlock or flash the ROM. If you have any particular question feel free to jump back in and post it. Oh and btw The PK Dual is what I was talking about in my last post...Sorry if it seemed a bit confusing.
I'm getting a error when I attempt to unlock my phone.
I ran version 3.12.3.3 of AthenaUnlocker.exe. The error is 202 connection.
the update utility cannot connect to your pda phone. please check that your usb cradle/cable is connected properly between the pc and your pda phone.
check the following:
1. the pda phone is connected to the usb cradle/cable.
2. the usb cradle/cable is connected to the pc.
I know the phone is connected. It is synchronized with ActiveSync 4.5, and it shows that it is connected.
Maybe I don't have the correct version of AthenaUpdater?
I've made progress with the AthenaUpdater.exe program.
I noticed that I had to take an action on the phone after I started the update process. I didn't notice that before, and there is nothing in the program that tells the user to check the phone.
Anyway, step one completed, and I completed step two.
Now, the phone won't turn on. I remember reading about a special key combination, and I'm wondering if I need to do that to get it to turn on and complete step three.
If I get through this successfull, I am going to update the wiki with a how-to for the next guy new to the Athena.
I found the key combination to get into the bootloader,
camera - power - reset
I continued with setp three of the AthenaUpdater, but I think because of the errors, the update did not work properly.
The phone will still not turn on.
I can get it to go into the bootloader, but I don't know what to do next.
I would really apreciate if someone who know what to do would post some helpful comments now.
Thanks
when I go into bootloader it displays
ATHE100
IPL-V2.02
ATHE100
SPL-v1.20.Olipro
At this point, can I install the AP Dual 3.0 ROM?
I installed AP Dual 3.0 with no problem.
However, GPS seems to be not working.
Do I need to run the AthenaUnlocker.exe again?
Does that mean I'll have to reinstall the AP Dual 3.0 ROM again?
Wish I could help you, but I've never updated my ROM. Maybe the version coming on the X7510 will entice me to try.
What error are you getting when you try to run Google Maps? If you get an immediate error, your ports aren't set right. If it spins its wheels for a while the ports are right but the fickle GPS is taking its time.
Tonight I'm going to try and straighten things out on my Athena.
I hope I don't have to spend hours at it again. It would be great if someone who know has experience with the unlocker and the AP Dual 3.0 ROM could spend a few minutes answer my questions so I won't have to spend a few hours sweating through the upgrade process. Last night I literally was as sweaty as if I had gone for a jog; I was surprised at how stressful the upgrade process was for me (I mean, it's only a few hundred dollars if I brick it, right?)
The state of my Athena now is: I probably botched the unlock process in step two, because my GPS is no longer working.
Can I just run the AthenaUnlocker again, or do I need to first flash back to the original x7510 HTC ROM?
After I run the unlocker again, do I need to flash the AP Dual 3.0 ROM again?
I'm also wondering why I ran into problems with the unlocker, and concerned that I'll just encounter the same problems again. I'm hoping that because I have the AP Dual 3.0 ROM installed, the unlocker will perform differently and without errors.
If anyone is reading this who knows the anwser to my questions, I'd really appreciate hearing from you.
Thanks
techntrek said:
What error are you getting when you try to run Google Maps? If you get an immediate error, your ports aren't set right. If it spins its wheels for a while the ports are right but the fickle GPS is taking its time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Error message???
TechNTrek,
Thanks again for pitching in to offer me help.
Good new for me; The GPS started working. Earlier this morning, I decided to try it again outside, giveing it more time, and it connected. It had been bringing up a message screen telling me about connection problems.
I just tried to bring up the can't connect message screen by attempting to connect while inside my house, but the darn thing connected with 7 active satellites, and I can't reproduce the problem now to give you a detailed error description.
So, even thought I got a bunch of error messages during my unlocking process, the unlocking seems to have worked, and it left my Athena in working condition.
Some final notes relating to how I started this thread: now that I have AP Dual 3.0 ROM installed, the device seems to be performing better in all the problem areas I first mentioned.
I tested charging the battery by connecting to my computer's USB port, and, although it is charging slowly, at least it's not discharging while connected.
I think that experience discharging while connected might have been because Opera 9.33 beta was open to a page the was running something - just speculation.
I think it's also possible that I misinterpreted what I saw; it might not have been discharging while connected; instead, it might have been a delay in updating the display of the state of the battery; when I looked at the battery when I first connected to the USB, it showed 70%, but in reality it might have only been 60% charged, and the display had just not updated; then, when I disconnected it, the display had updated to the correct 60%.
Also, I haven't noticed any of the extremely slow performance when open apps or running apps. I did notice that my old Kaiser is a lot snappier than the Athena before I updated the ROM. I'm going to keep an eye on it, and do some more Kaiser/Athena performance comparisons.
I think the Athena may be slower than the Kaiser because of the video driver issue. The Athena has four times as many pixels to render, and the CPU has to do the rendering since the driver that would take advantage of the ATI video processor is absent. Hopefully, that will be fixed soon, as mentioned at HTCClassAction.org. http://www.htcclassaction.org/
I am going to start a new thread on a couple of questions I have. In the original HTC ROM, there was a network program from HTC, and I used it to connect to shares on my LAN over WiFi, and I want to find a replacement for it. There may even be a network program in the Dual 3.0 ROM, but I haven't found it yet.
Also, I love MS Voice Command 1.6 (a version made available in the Kaiser forum - not a more recent 1.6 version for sale by MS.) It works for me on my Wizard and on my Kaiser, but on my Athena, I can't start Voice Command using my Bluetooth headset.
I've searched both of these issues in the forums, but haven't found answers yet. Again, if anyone knows, please help.
Now, I'm going to explore the 3.0 ROM!
xdafile said:
TechNTrek,
Thanks again for pitching in to offer me help.
Good new for me; The GPS started working. Earlier this morning, I decided to try it again outside, giveing it more time, and it connected. It had been bringing up a message screen telling me about connection problems.
I just tried to bring up the can't connect message screen by attempting to connect while inside my house, but the darn thing connected with 7 active satellites, and I can't reproduce the problem now to give you a detailed error description.
So, even thought I got a bunch of error messages during my unlocking process, the unlocking seems to have worked, and it left my Athena in working condition.
Some final notes relating to how I started this thread: now that I have AP Dual 3.0 ROM installed, the device seems to be performing better in all the problem areas I first mentioned.
I tested charging the battery by connecting to my computer's USB port, and, although it is charging slowly, at least it's not discharging while connected.
I think that experience discharging while connected might have been because Opera 9.33 beta was open to a page the was running something - just speculation.
I think it's also possible that I misinterpreted what I saw; it might not have been discharging while connected; instead, it might have been a delay in updating the display of the state of the battery; when I looked at the battery when I first connected to the USB, it showed 70%, but in reality it might have only been 60% charged, and the display had just not updated; then, when I disconnected it, the display had updated to the correct 60%.
Also, I haven't noticed any of the extremely slow performance when open apps or running apps. I did notice that my old Kaiser is a lot snappier than the Athena before I updated the ROM. I'm going to keep an eye on it, and do some more Kaiser/Athena performance comparisons.
I think the Athena may be slower than the Kaiser because of the video driver issue. The Athena has four times as many pixels to render, and the CPU has to do the rendering since the driver that would take advantage of the ATI video processor is absent. Hopefully, that will be fixed soon, as mentioned at HTCClassAction.org. http://www.htcclassaction.org/
I am going to start a new thread on a couple of questions I have. In the original HTC ROM, there was a network program from HTC, and I used it to connect to shares on my LAN over WiFi, and I want to find a replacement for it. There may even be a network program in the Dual 3.0 ROM, but I haven't found it yet.
Also, I love MS Voice Command 1.6 (a version made available in the Kaiser forum - not a more recent 1.6 version for sale by MS.) It works for me on my Wizard and on my Kaiser, but on my Athena, I can't start Voice Command using my Bluetooth headset.
I've searched both of these issues in the forums, but haven't found answers yet. Again, if anyone knows, please help.
Now, I'm going to explore the 3.0 ROM!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To get MS 1.6 to work try this:
Delete the paird BT headset, then do a reset on the phone then re-pair with the BT headset. Make sure the headset is not set to (stereo) mode and that should work. I had the same issue with the Jabra BT8010. After doing the above steps the push button activation innitiated voice command.
Thanks TootTalk2000,
That worked. I have the Jabro BT8010 too.
Have you figured out how to get the BT to work hands free and stereo too?
xdafile said:
Thanks TootTalk2000,
That worked. I have the Jabro BT8010 too.
Have you figured out how to get the BT to work hands free and stereo too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, when you set it to stereo however, all the audio gets routed to the BT headset (I personally don't like that, especially when using my GPS) and in order for you to use voice command then you have to take stereo/mono button which is the button closest to the mic on the bottom of the BT, then hit the answer button and you will hear VC prompting for your command. The draw back to this also is that everytime you want to use VC you will have to repeat these steps because the BT defaults back to stereo after you're don't with a voice call.