Database Users

Replace the camera

Hi all,
i just bough an i-mate Jam and it's the first time that i post a new topic here. I'm doing it because i find my new phone (is it a phone? ) wonderfull except for one thing. I guess u all know what i'm talking about: its crappy camera!
I mean, i already own a digital camera and don't really need this one, but why making it 1.3 Mpix if it can't even do a decent photo...
I tried it inside but the light was too low and the picture was too dark, i tried it outside in a perfect sunny day but there was too much light and the picture had some pink areas :? , i even tried to take a photo of a document (maybe that was its pourpose) but couldn't read it cause the picture was blurry...
Now, it's obvious that HTC (or who made it) had used cheap lens and sensor and my question is: can we replace it with a better one?
I ask u this because i know ppl that have done it to other phones; it's a quite simple task if the camera is not soldered on the main board, but i don't wanna loose my warranty to try to do something that maybe can't be done...
So, since i bet that there is already someone that have disassembled his Magician :roll: , i'm here to ask:
- is the camera soldered or just plugged into the main board?
- is it hard to remove the case?
Maybe someone would like to try it or maybe i will if i get enough support :lol:
Show me your interest, cheers

XDA cameras
Yep, it's sad isn't it? Bloody great device with an eye-wateringly bad excuse for a camera (if you think 1.3 mpix is bad, try the XDA II camera!) all before they even sorted out bluetooth, wi-fi, headsets etc. typical O2 headless chicken approach, get used to it. We've been putting up with this crap for years! Happy New Year! Hope this is the year when O2 finally gets 'The Plot' !!!!!! Oops! There goes another flying pig! :wink:

The photo quality is actually good in daylight, but very bad in night mode or dim light.
I think a new firmware could improve it greatly.

They can maybe kidnap a developer that worked on Sharp phones :lol:

tinto said:
I tried it inside but the light was too low and the picture was too dark, i tried it outside in a perfect sunny day but there was too much light and the picture had some pink areas
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Click to collapse
The MDA Compact, as sold by T-Mobile in Germany, comes with an upgraded Camera application (v 2.70, build 17736) in the Extended ROM. I don't know how much difference this makes, but you may want to try. That ExtROM is available somewhere here...
Also, did you try to change the "Mode" setting (not sure if this is the correct name - on my German MDA Compact, it's "Umgebung") in the Camera settings? If you change it to "Night", interior shots will have visible noise, but be at least not underexposed. And changing this setting to "Daylight" will help a lot for outside shots. On mine, the default was Tungsten ("Neon"), which is totally inappropriate for almost all conditions.
Cheers, Daniel

jacoch said:
They can maybe kidnap a developer that worked on Sharp phones :lol:
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Click to collapse
Well, i just took a look at some pictures taken by a Nokia 6630 and belive me those are photos!!! Incredibly high definition and wonderfull colors... Not a picture is blurry and even those taken indoor are beautyful; could be easely compared to those that come from mid-end digital cameras (except for the fact that they are 1.3 mpix only). I would definetly kidnap the guy that implemented the 6630 camera...
I belive anyway that such a result is not only obtained via software but mostly due to a high quality CMOS and lens. If changing those in my Jam allowed me to obtain half the quality of 6630 pictures i would be more than happy.
tadzio said:
Also, did you try to change the "Mode" setting (not sure if this is the correct name - on my German MDA Compact, it's "Umgebung") in the Camera settings? If you change it to "Night", interior shots will have visible noise, but be at least not underexposed. And changing this setting to "Daylight" will help a lot for outside shots. On mine, the default was Tungsten ("Neon"), which is totally inappropriate for almost all conditions.
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Click to collapse
I tried that thx, but i still consider those pictures of a too low quality for a 1.3 mpix. I'll try to flash my Jam with the extended ROM but i'm a total noob in flashin PDAs and don't have a clue from where to start (i'll learn anyway, don't worry . Just two questions: what's the difference between extended ROMs and "normal" ROMs? If i flash my Jam with the German extended ROM do i get a German OS?)

I'll try to flash my Jam with the extended ROM but i'm a total noob in flashin PDAs and don't have a clue from where to start
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not tried to install the German Camera update to an English device, so there's no warranty that it'll work. But to install that Camera update, you don't have to flash anything! Just get the Camera*.cab, copy it to your device via ActiveSync, and execute it there. It will install itself.
Unfortunately, this .cab does not contain uninstall info, so if it doesn't work, you can't simply uninstall it. You'll either have to use special tools, or perform a Hard Reset.
Just two questions: what's the difference between extended ROMs and "normal" ROMs? If i flash my Jam with the German extended ROM do i get a German OS?)
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Click to collapse
All HTC PocketPCs have (logically, not necessarily physically) three Flash memories: the main ROM that contains the OS and Radio Stack, then the Extended ROM where network providers can put their customized apps, and lastly the user-accessible "Storage".
When you first switch on your device (or do a Hard Reset), the OS looks for AutoRun.exe in the ExtendedROM, and that program installs several .cab files from the ExtendedROM. If you perform a Soft Reset immediately after the short tutorial that executes after each Hard Reset and before the Today Screen appears, the ExtendedROM is not executed and remains visible. You then can decide which .cabs you want to install - just use a file explorer to browse the ExtendedROM. But I disgress...
Most programs in the ExtendedROM just add some branding and network-specific settings, so you should not install German T-Mobile ones on your device. Some others (Intellidialer, Intellipad) are also available in English, so again don't use the German ones. The Camera may be the only one not available in English, but maybe we should first try to find out what the differences really are between the built-in and the ExtendedROM Camera app. Which version is your Camera app?
Cheers, Daniel

Thx a lot for your explaination, i think i got it now
Now, my camera app version should be 1.0.0.1 (i had to get it through ActiveSync since u don't have a property menu in the FileExplorer, right?), so i belive it's the very first release (or at least the second if the first was 1.0.0.0). What's yours?
Could u post a picture taken with your camera so i'll do the same and we can compare them? (i suppose u have the German camera update)
Thx again for your help :wink:

tinto said:
Now, my camera app version should be 1.0.0.1 (i had to get it through ActiveSync since u don't have a property menu in the FileExplorer, right?)
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Click to collapse
That number surprises me, and I don't think it's the correct one. Where exactly did you look? Try the following: start the Camera app, tap the toolbox icon to go to the settings page, then click on the "Extras" menu, then on "Info" (names are from my German app, may be slightly different on your device). What is the version number displayed on that page?
Could u post a picture taken with your camera so i'll do the same and we can compare them? (i suppose u have the German camera update)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Attached are two pictures (packed into one ZIP file) - one taken with my MDA Compact, the other one with my Ricoh Caplio R1. It was a rainy and dark day, so both are somewhat dull. It's true that despite the darkness, the MDA picture is still a bit overexposed. It was taken with the mode set to "daylight". And of course the difference between 1.3 and 4 MPixel and the difference in the quality of the lenses is very evident. But I think the quality is in line with what can be reasonably expected.
Oh, btw, I did not compare myself, but I heard people say that if you set the resolution to less than the maximum of 1280*960, the picture quality increases. This could be due to some post-processing of the image. I always use 640*480 when taking photos with the MDA Compact.
So, how does the quality of your pictures compare to mine?
Cheers, Daniel

tadzio said:
That number surprises me, and I don't think it's the correct one. Where exactly did you look? Try the following: start the Camera app, tap the toolbox icon to go to the settings page, then click on the "Extras" menu, then on "Info" (names are from my German app, may be slightly different on your device). What is the version number displayed on that page?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
idd was the wrong one
anyway i upgraded today to the italian ROM and the camera app version is 2.70 build 17975. Let me know if it is the same
tadzio said:
So, how does the quality of your pictures compare to mine?
Cheers, Daniel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I gotta say it's almost the same. Anyway i didn't know that with lower resolutions the quality of pictures increases. All the picture i took before where in 1280*960.
Now i'll show u something i discovered:
i attached 2 pictures taken today before the ROM upgrade; i know they are ugly but was the first thing i had in my view . The picture number 1 is a street where i live during a rather sunny afternoon. Notice that everything bright is shown with a pink tone (and in every other picture taken by MDA compact that i've seen it's the same). Now look picture number 2; that's the same picture with levels, contrast and colors automaticly set by Photoshop. IMO picture quality is much higher...
So my point is: after all the MDA camera is not that bad, what really sux is the sofware that reprocesses the pictures, as maverick stated above...

tinto said:
anyway i upgraded today to the italian ROM and the camera app version is 2.70 build 17975. Let me know if it is the same
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You now have a newer one, see my first post in this thread.
Notice that everything bright is shown with a pink tone (and in every other picture taken by MDA compact that i've seen it's the same).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, that! Then I think I have good news for you: the Camera app has settings to correct such problems. In the Settings Page, tap on "Extra", then on the first menu entry (in German it's "Ansicht einstellen") - not the "Options" menu entry! There you can set contrast, brightness, hue, gamma, crispness etc.
Although these settings are under "Ansicht" ("View"), they do affect the pictures you take! (I have to admit I only just discovered this. Otherwise I would have let you know a lot earlier, of course...)
Hope that helped!
Daniel

tinto said:
tadzio said:
contrast and colors automaticly set by Photoshop. IMO picture quality is much higher...
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Click to collapse
what do u mean by automatically set by photoshop ??? how,d u do that :$ ??? plz explain.....thanks
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Click to collapse

zairyaab said:
what do u mean by automatically set by photoshop ??? how,d u do that :$ ??? plz explain.....thanks
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Click to collapse
my version of photoshop is in italian so i dunno the right name of the menu but i'll try to explain...
Go to menu Image (3rd menu from the left), then Regulations (the second string from the top) and then click on Automatic Levels, Automatic Contrast and Automatic Color. Anyway u can do a better job manually if u know what to do. My example was just there to show that the pictures of our lovely Compact could be slightly improved with a simple piece of software.
tadzio said:
Oh, that! Then I think I have good news for you: the Camera app has settings to correct such problems. In the Settings Page, tap on "Extra", then on the first menu entry (in German it's "Ansicht einstellen") - not the "Options" menu entry! There you can set contrast, brightness, hue, gamma, crispness etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've seen those too when u told me where i could find the camera app version. I've tried to change some but i don't really see a big improvement; anyway i'll try again tomorrow with the daylight. I'll let u know the results (and let me know yours :wink: )

I guess there should be some1 developing 3rd party camera software don't you think?

ramram said:
I guess there should be some1 developing 3rd party camera software don't you think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope so. I'll try to take a look
For what concerns the camera settings, i've made some tries today in a perfect sunny afternoon and i found that i could improve a little the overall photo quality. Anyway the generalized pink tone is still present and can't be removed (u can turn it in a cyan tone but still not white; i belive u should be able to use decimals in the settings to remove it, cause with a hue of 5 the picture has pink while with a hue of 4 it has cyan tones).
My settings for a perfect sunny day are:
Contrast 6
Brightness 5
Gamma 5
Hue 5
Higher crispness gives u better details under the daylight, lower gives better quality in low light conditions.
Cheers

XDA II CAM SOFTWARE ALLLLL CRAPPP !!
i haf noticed one thing....n i think alll the xda II or guys usin himalaya device shud try this toooooo.....wat ive noticed is....i taken out a pic from ma xda II on default settings wid out changin gamma or contrast or sharpness.....wid pic resolution of 480 (thts the max it has FOOOOOK) ne wayz...i sent the pic to ma frnd via bluetooth on his nokia 6600 n the other frnd on some new siemens set....n guesss wat.....the freaky pic was loookin as if i toook it out from a DIGI CAM......not just on the damn cellll but wen they downloaded from the celll to their pc's too then also the damn pic had a totallllly diffff color n resolution then wat ma xda II was givin me.....so i am sure there has to be something wid the software tht generates the pic n reproduces it on the lcd....caz after takin a pic out from xda II n sendin it to frnds cell n burnin it out on the comp it was just awesome wat does tht MEAN ????? SOFTWARE PROB FOR SURE..... wat do u guys say ????

anyone tried the thing i mentioned above ??

I have noticed one thing, I think all the XDA II or people using Himalaya device should try this too, what I've noticed is, I took out a picture from my XDA II on default settings without changing GAMMA, CONTRAST or SHARPNESS.... with picture resolution of 480x640 (that’s the max XDA II has) any ways after taking out the picture I sent the picture to one of my friends via Bluetooth on his NOKIA 6600 and the other friend on some new SIEMENS Cell and guess what ??? the picture was looking totally different as if someone took it out from a DIGI CAM not just on the cell but also when they downloaded it on their computers the resolution and colors (graphics) was totally different then what my XDA II was giving out.
So I am sure there’s something to do with the software that generates the picture while sending it out on the Desktop Pc or LCD of the Handheld’s we are using.
What do you people have to say about this ?
Hope the grammar is OK for you guys to understand now

CAmera Version
Hello, I am a newbie in this area. I recently bought an I-Mate Jam and was immediately dissatisfied with the performance of its camera. I read that the German ROM cab file works better. Could you please tell me where I can find this cab file?
THanks

I have the JAM, bought it 2 weeks ago. The camera version is 2.70, build 18177. I would say the pic quality is mediocre for 1.3MP camera. Sometimes I get white spots in the pic too.
Maybe as someone above said, the processing is doing something odd. However I personally suspect that its a cheap camera and cheap lens.
Also, I wouldn't be suprised if its NOT really a 1.3MP camera. Maybe they have that "1.3MP by software enhancement" crap and that's its really a VGA camera. That would be my guess.
Anyway, lets face it, we didn't buy this device for the camera. If the Jam had no camera, I would have paid the same price for it as a PDA/Phone of this size. THAT's why I bought it, not for the toy camera.
I see the Nokia 1.3MP camera and it IS better, but you know these things are still basically toys. When I want a picture I use my Panasonic DMC-FX7, which is about the same size as the JAM and has 5MP and a kick ass picture.
When they make a phone camera that is at least 4MP and has an 3x optical zoom lens, give me call. Becuase that is the point when there is any value in the camera that would make me leave my real cameras at home. Until then I dont think I really care about these toy-class 1.3 MP cameras. Its not worth the trouble to even worry about it. That would be me stressing over the video quality of my digital camera - its a gimmick.

Hermes front VideoCAM- Can you use without videocall or not?

Hi guys,
Since my Universal is dead I've just brought an HTC Tytn.
There is any way to access the front videocam? In Universal you just need to go to camera app and choose the front camera, where you can take pictures and make videos.
In Hermes camera app you can only access the 2.0mpx cam... I've already installed Coolcamera 1.5b and I still can't choose the front VGA videocam.
Any suggestions?
Tks
Phelipe
PS. No 3G networks available in Brazil, so no videocalls yet...

phamoui said:
Hi guys,
Since my Universal is dead I've just brought an HTC Tytn.
There is any way to access the front videocam? In Universal you just need to go to camera app and choose the front camera, where you can take pictures and make videos.
In Hermes camera app you can only access the 2.0mpx cam... I've already installed Coolcamera 1.5b and I still can't choose the front VGA videocam.
Any suggestions?
Tks
Phelipe
PS. No 3G networks available in Brazil, so no videocalls yet...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had same problem, but some folks have said coolcamera can access front camera - maybe someone can let us know how it's done with coolcamera?
Mike

yup coolcamera let's you access it, you just switch from main to frontcam, you can take pics and all using it.
photo / settings / sensor / front

If you go into settings there is a setting called "Sensor" ... you need to change that from 'Main' to 'Front' and then it will capture from the front camera.
Hope this helps

Ahh .. I see Darky beat me to it I really must remember to refresh the page more often

Double thanks
Nicky said:
Ahh .. I see Darky beat me to it I really must remember to refresh the page more often
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Click to collapse
thank you both - somehow I missed that setting, I think it was because of my sheer incompetence, I feel such a fool - but she enjoys it!!
Thanks again
Mike

no worries their menu is sort of annoying

It works!!
Great! Thanks again folks...

hi
it's possible access to front camera without use coolcamera?
thx

I can use the front camera now with coolcamera but the screen is 90 rotated to the right. There is no way which I could correct this even if I change the rotation setting. Can someone help, please?

trevortang said:
I can use the front camera now with coolcamera but the screen is 90 rotated to the right. There is no way which I could correct this even if I change the rotation setting. Can someone help, please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. I get that too.
Also, Probably me being dense, I can't seem to get the web cam to actually work on my pc.
I can set the IP address in the pda to that of my PC. The port is 2047 on both devices, but nothing seems to appear.
What am I doing wrong?

abanner said:
Yeah. I get that too.
Also, Probably me being dense, I can't seem to get the web cam to actually work on my pc.
I can set the IP address in the pda to that of my PC. The port is 2047 on both devices, but nothing seems to appear.
What am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Difficult to say. Presume ypu have used d-pad or jog wheel on device to select webcam mode. Presume you have started the coolcam software on your PC and a coolcam window (which is expandable) has opened on your screen with instructions as to the next steps to take. And finally that your active sync connection is live. Sometimes I get the window on PC coming up blank/black in which case I close PC application and restart it.
The little 90 symbol on screen should rotate image. If not and restarting does not make it work, I think I'd reload the software.
Mike

trevortang said:
I can use the front camera now with coolcamera but the screen is 90 rotated to the right. There is no way which I could correct this even if I change the rotation setting. Can someone help, please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On CoolCamera forums support said that the rotaton issue is a bug they're aware of and will fix later. Nothing you can do for now.

rassah said:
On CoolCamera forums support said that the rotaton issue is a bug they're aware of and will fix later. Nothing you can do for now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder though why it affects some and not others. Mine is ok - rotates fine.
Mike

Tytn and maximum lcd backlight

Hi, did anyone noticed that maximum Tytn's backlight is much dimmer than Wizard's? But it seems that it is only a software block because when you start Camera application, brightness goes much higher.. It's not matter of life and death, but it quite annoys me.
So.. Do anyone know if there is some way how to enable higher values? Probably some registry fix or something like that...

naciniak said:
Hi, did anyone noticed that maximum Tytn's backlight is much dimmer than Wizard's? But it seems that it is only a software block because when you start Camera application, brightness goes much higher.. It's not matter of life and death, but it quite annoys me.
So.. Do anyone know if there is some way how to enable higher values? Probably some registry fix or something like that...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well thanks to the fantastic Vijay555 there is something you can do:
check this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=279365&highlight=lumos
Mike

oh.. thanks

I have to say, I hate using my Hermes without VJLumos. The normal max brightness is horrible, washed out and weak...
V

i remapped the record button for youre great app works well

Yeah.. nice program.. but unfortunately it is still just trying to bypass the problem by using the camera application. So when Vjlumos is running you are unable to use the camera.. There must by some other way. I hope somebody will find it..
But still.. It is a great program

There is another way, but remember that the extra brightness is tied to the camera functions.... I've been thinking about rewriting this app to turn it into a service so it takes less resources.
If and when, I'll try to make it camera independant. But the problem with that is that it will be device specific ie Hermes.
But then I thought, meh? Whatever, it'll still be better!
V

naciniak said:
Yeah.. nice program.. but unfortunately it is still just trying to bypass the problem by using the camera application. So when Vjlumos is running you are unable to use the camera.. There must by some other way. I hope somebody will find it..
But still.. It is a great program
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a great app. However for me, I'm able to use the camera without having to disable the app. I just hit the camera button to access the camera function, then hit the camera button again and was able to take a picture. With that being said, once I exited the camera function, the screen was dim again and I had to hit my VJLumos icon twice (once to disable, once again to enable) to get the screen back to its brightness. Currently a small price to pay.
Vijay, nice apps. Even if you make this app specific to Hermes, I think you'll have a lot of satisfied people. Thanks for great apps!

Camera Problem

anyone knows what happen with the camera, it is showing a line in the screen only in camera model. see pictures, thanks. before don't have, just appeared recent days.

jamesluo said:
anyone knows what happen with the camera, it is showing a line in the screen only in camera model. see pictures, thanks. before don't have, just appeared recent days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi did you find a solution for this? i have the same problem but the line is towards the right hand of the screen.
Anybody else with a solution?
this line changes its colour according to background of the picture you take.. on lighter/bright environments it almost disappears..
GUYS WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!

You should copy reports error on your camera and you can search this error with google. Good luck

esnc said:
You should copy reports error on your camera and you can search this error with google. Good luck
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Click to collapse
yea i did actually.. but nothing could be found except for this thread at XDA dev ..

bro.. how about this problem..? any solutions??? facing the same problem..

please someone.. how to solve this problem..? any setting fail or need to replace the camera??? event my Niki is not the best phone but niki with bad camera is totally useless!!

has anyone tried to hard reset or flash the ROM?
if it still doesnt work, it could be hardware problem (but let's hope not)..and maybe u can bring it to HTC service center
this is the best i can suggest sorry

bro.. hard reset done.. but the line still there.. plus there's another line in the midlle of the screen.. flash rom not yet n dont know how to do.. this problem happens only when you use camera app.. no line in the screen.. why...???

bro.. other suggestion..???

try to bring it to HTC service center in your town, i found somebody here fixed this problem by bringing it to service center. I've never flashed my ROM, so i cant suggest u how do it sorry (again)

Hello,
Did anyone find a solution to this? I've just received a second-hand Touch Dual which has this problem (there are also a number of white dots scattered around the screen, which come out on the photos) - would be good to hear an update from anyone?
Thanks

Clock has changed from digital to analog

Hello all,
The clock on my HD2, which replaces the battery icon when using an application was originally digital, i dont know what i have done (if anything) which has turned it to analog.
It is very difficult due to the size to read this analog version, can anyone on here tell me a way to change this back to digital?

At one time if you hold down the clock up top on the today screen you could choose digital or analogue, maybe you still can and you changed it by accident. I have a task manager getting in my way to test it at the moment.

not working
Hi mate thanks fir the advice but its not letting me do anything like that.
I have tried looking at all the settings to do with time but still haven't been able to find anything, not sure how it could have happened in the first place.
I take it by the lack of interest no one else is having this problem.

Dharms said:
Hi mate thanks fir the advice but its not letting me do anything like that.
I have tried looking at all the settings to do with time but still haven't been able to find anything, not sure how it could have happened in the first place.
I take it by the lack of interest no one else is having this problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
U can change your clock back to digital from the following registry key:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Shell\AnalogClock
Change the value from 1 to 0... That should solve your issue.

Hey thanks for that i will give it a try, don't really have any registry editors so will have to get one.
Any ideas on how or why this has happened?

Hey, just gave it a try and it works a charm, needs a reset after changing the code but apart from that thats it.
Thanks alot for the help.

Dharms said:
Hey, just gave it a try and it works a charm, needs a reset after changing the code but apart from that thats it.
Thanks alot for the help.
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Welcome....