Database Users

HTC Prophet - My first impressions!

Just got mine today and some of you have asked me to comment about it when I recieve it.
I got the black version and the look is in my opinion slightly more professional than the Magician's. Size and feel are exactly the same.
The first HUGE improvement over the Magician is the OS! Yes WM5 is awesome!
One handed-operation:
As many have said before me, one-handed operation is very very easy. Also thanks to the Start and OK buttons. From my little experience so far, the extra hardware buttons on a WM5 device are a MUST! A further improvement towards one-handed operation is that in WM5, tabs, volume bubbles, etc. are all NAVIGABLE with the D-pad.
Key Lock:
Device locking can be done from the today screen using the D-Pad, pretty much like a normal phone. The touch screen is also disabled when the keys are locked!
Camera:
The camera quality is awesome. I found the refresh rate before taking the picture a bit slow when set to 2 MP but I can live with that, especially after looking at the results! (Sample pic attached)
Memory:
For the time being I decided to install all the customisations in the extended rom. This left me with 41.95MB of (permanent) storage and 25.6 MB of Program memory.
Battery:
I can't say a lot about this so far, but looking at the battery settings it was nice not seeing a Backup Battery level (not required for WM5!). A battery level is now included on the Today screen without installing any plug-ins.
Photo Contacts:
This program, usually included in all HTC devices, is not included. I don't know why yet, but presumably WM5 can store pictures against a contact so no 3rd party program was required.
File Explorer:
Now supports a "Back" feature, not included in previous versions. Thought I should mention cause I could never understand why it wasn't always there. Btw, navigating in file explorer without a stylus is now possible.
Performance:
For the time being I cannot say much, but loading as many programs as possible DID NOT slow the device at all! I did not find opening applications slower than the Magician. If it's milliseconds slower I won't notice it ... sorry!
Comm Manager:
A program called Comm Manager (not sure if it's standard Windows or HTC yet) allows you to control all wireless activity, i.e. BT, WIFI and ActiveSync.
Headset:
The quality of the headset is improved, built quality as well as sound quality
It's too early to comment on call quality, GSM signal quality, etc. but I promise I will keep you posted
BY THE WAY, DEAR ADMINISTRATORS, WHEN CAN WE HAVE AN HTC PROPHET FORUM SECTION PLEASE? THIS DEVICE IS BEING DISCUSSED IN ALL THE OTHER BIG FORUMS, WHY NOT HERE AS WELL?

Hi there mate can i ask where u got it from ive been after 1 for a while but being in the uk its pretty difficult to get hold of 1
Thanks

I think he ordered it direct from Expansys

Yes, from expansys.

Some uppdates
After some hours of use I'm in love with WM5 already. M$ have finally put more phone in their OS.
With regards to performance I cannot notice any difference from the Magician at all. As I'm posting this I have the following programs running:
Wifi switched on
Pocket MSN
MSN Messenger
Text Messages
Windows Media Player playing
TCPMP
Internet Explorer
Activesync
This has no performance impact whatsoever.
I think you should try the device yourself to really know if the OMAP performance is OK. People's opinions can be misleading at times!
Built:
As I said in my previous post, the built quality is similar to the Magician. Buttons have a better feel though. They feel more robust.
Audio:
Audio quality is a major improvement I think, during calls and while listening to music. It has more bass, no more tinny audio
So far it's perfect. Feel free to ask any questions

Some uppdates
After some hours of use I'm in love with WM5 already. M$ have finally put more phone in their OS.
With regards to performance I cannot notice any difference from the Magician at all. As I'm posting this I have the following programs running:
Wifi switched on
Pocket MSN
MSN Messenger
Text Messages
Windows Media Player playing
TCPMP
Internet Explorer
Activesync
This has no performance impact whatsoever.
I think you should try the device yourself to really know if the OMAP performance is OK. People's opinions can be misleading at times!
Built:
As I said in my previous post, the built quality is similar to the Magician. Buttons have a better feel though. They feel more robust.
Audio:
Audio quality is a major improvement I think, during calls and while listening to music. It has more bass, no more tinny audio
So far it's perfect. Feel free to ask any questions

Well..will kindly ask you to give an update in a week's time. I think you've got a lot of Magician users here excited :-D

Would love to know how you find video playback using TCPMP, video streaming as well as playing DVDs....take your time....

I will try a DIVx with TCPMP later on today. With the applications I mentioned above all running, I had no problem playing AVI files, but these were only like 10MB each. No frame skips, no nothing!
I'll let you know how it goes with a 160MB DIVx later ...

you're the man!! :lol:

Some more updates, not the DIVx yet
I wanted to say this earlier, but wanted to be sure before I post it here. I noticed that the screen is slightly brighter than the Magician's and is also much better when used in sunlight.
I think HTC do listen to their customers after all. With the Magician we complained a lot about the tinny sound, quality of the headset headphones, no WiFi, bad camera, etc. ... and guess what? The sound is awesome, the headset quality is very very good, WiFi is included (and g not b) and the camera is probably the best PDA camera as of now. Until I recieved it I was thinking that it cannot be much of an improvement over the Magician but I'm starting to change my mind now

congr. on your new toy..
I would love to know more about video capturing.. is the same as on the magician or is it changed > better worse?!! :?
cheers

I've encoded a 320x240, 360Kbps, 235MB avi movie and played with TCPMP without any problems whatsoever. I then made a call to the Prophet and did not have any issues either.
I then switched on Wifi (known for its CPU power consumption) and continued to watch the film without any interruptions. I then loaded the following programs and could still watch the film without any problems:
Activesync
Windows Media (just loaded a playlist but this still consumes memory)
File Explorer
Pictures & Videos
MSN Messenger (signed in)
TCPMP (of course!)
Pocket MSN
So I guess the performance has passed my test. I could never be watching a film, watching pictures, chatting on MSN and browsing in File Explorer at the same time!
I think the only real performance problem people have had with this processor was Skype. I'm not a Skype user so I will not try it, but if you ask me, I think the problem with Skype is code optimisation. Newer releases of Skype will run flawlesly on the OMAP processor as well. Mind you, some people on PPCSG forums are using Skype on the Prophet already!
Anyway, if you have any more questions, please just ask.

I've uninstalled Cyberon Voice Commander that comes shipped with the Dopod and installed Microsoft voice command. Cyberon is barely usable and the speech recognition is horrible.

hi kta, that's good to hear...well apparently quite a few members from the PPCSG (PPPC Singapore) forum are experiencing issues running avi divx movies on their Dopod 818 Pro, using tcpmp.

http://www.ppcsg.com/index.php?showtopic=68322
maybe it could be to do with the encoding...maybe they tried a high encoding rate?

I went back to a Magician after having a Vario, bored of the slowness of WM5 and the weak processor. Can't see how this Prophet pulls any tricks out of the bag.

O2mini_noob said:
http://www.ppcsg.com/index.php?showtopic=68322
maybe it could be to do with the encoding...maybe they tried a high encoding rate?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure someone was experiencing problems with avi file encoded over 500kbps. Pocket Divx did not allow me to go this high. Anything over 300kbps is probably too much size wise anyway.

monkeyphonix said:
I went back to a Magician after having a Vario, bored of the slowness of WM5 and the weak processor. Can't see how this Prophet pulls any tricks out of the bag.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the MDA Vario implementation of WM5 is inferior to the HTC Prophet's. This is evident from posts on PPCSG from owners of both devices. To start with, the HTC Prophet does not have anti virus installed. There could be many reasons why the Vario is slower as the device is slightly different as well. No keyboard drivers, different camera, different screen, etc. The slow down in a ROM could be caused by many things, a bad device driver implementation for example. But surely the next Vario ROM will be improved.
WM5 is not the culprit. Users of the HTC Prophet and the E-Ten M600 are not complaining, on the other hand Atom users (read 416Mhz Xscale) are complaining. This shows how much difference a ROM implementation can make.

duke911 said:
congr. on your new toy..
I would love to know more about video capturing.. is the same as on the magician or is it changed > better worse?!! :?
cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In VERY good light conditions video capturing is OK. Nothing more than the Magician. In dark light condtions the refresh rate is horrible, nothing worse than the Magician but nothing better either.

Wizard + A2DP + QVGA Video = Slow

Hi ho
Yesterday I upgraded to the Mr. Clean latest ROM. (Nice ROM, fast boot time)
To celebrate my new A2DP goodness I bought a Blueant X5 headset which is offered by a company out of Melbourne, Australia where I live: http://www.blueant.com.au/x5_stereo_bluetooth_headset_headphones_a2dp.htm
I got it all paired and working fine, however when I try to play video in TCPMP which I encoded in PocketDivxEncoder, it's drops frames everywhere and the audio is out of sync. Benchmark shows like 17fps.
If I overclock using OmapClock to 216mhz (the highest I can go and stay stable) then it does improve the video somewhat.
I've also noticed it lags if you multitask while playing an mp3. I haven't tried any games yet but it would really suck if they slowdown too. I can live with the lag when playing audio, but not being able to watch video sort of defeats the purpose of getting headsets for me.
Does anyone know is this just a limitation of the KJAM's speed and that's it, or is there any way I can get the video to work properly, maybe there is a TCPMP expert who can give me some settings to make it run faster, because besides from the slowness I really love these headsets and would hate to have to return them.
Thanks

In my Case, I didn't get any lag by watching Video or hearing music files, I didn't OCed my device, I use the same program (TCPMP) to watch the video, and the same encoder program as you. I don't do anything special when I encode my videos, just the button and done.
It looks like you may have some applications running in your devic which cause this lags and make it runs slow. I am sorry if I wasn't that much help, but I thought maybe my post will give you a light.
BTW my device is Qtek 9100 , and I use the last Qtek Rom.

be careful what videos you try and play...attach the video so we can test the same thing. Make sure it's a low bitrate and QVGA resolution of course.

Looking to get a universal, some questions here!

I am seriously considering getting a universal to replace my pda (dell axim x51v) and cell phone (moto v551).
I got some questions to clear up before pulling the trigger
1) between the different variants, is there any difference other than software? Which one is supposed to be the best one? the worst one?
2) How does the universal handle video playback using the latest ROM, because according to an early review, the universal performed quite poorly.
3) Any universal user out there who also own(ed) an x51V, how does the universal behave compared to x51v generally?
Thanks a lot.

1) I've only ever used the O2 ROM, as I really like their visual style.
2) I can play XviD 640x360 (16:9) and 640x480 (4:3) both fullscreen with no resizing and they only stutter on lots of fast-changing detail e.g. fire, ripples, heat haze etc. 98% of the time, it's VERY watchable The other 2% last less than 5 seconds roughly on the types of video I watch. WMVs are not really watchable, MPEG1 / 2 are perfect, MPEG4 I don't have much experience with, but the clips I record with the Universal's built-in camera play fine.
3) I've never had another PPC
4) Get the true VGA hack if you get one!

1) i have used the O2 ROM, dopod ROM, Lt. Cmdr. Ivan's AKU3 ROM [beta 8 was the last ROM I used I think it's now on beta 15], JW's AKU3 imate ROM currently using JW's ROM [1.90.96] it's pretty stable and fast.
2) I barely use it for Video, I use it mainly for music. But when I played WMVs [all my WMVs are 320 x 240 as I encoded them all to this resolution when I still had QVGA devices not too forward thinking I know...] it did the job pretty well. Note I usually soft reset before and after watching a movie so that I get the most RAM I can.
3) Sorry never owned a DELL PPC.

Thanks for the input, guys.
Another quick question, how does the universal work as a phone? I know it's a pda phone and I shouldn't expect it to be as good as a regular phone.
But how is the usability of the universal as a phone? Missed calls problem or any other known problems?

renhui said:
Thanks for the input, guys.
Another quick question, how does the universal work as a phone? I know it's a pda phone and I shouldn't expect it to be as good as a regular phone.
But how is the usability of the universal as a phone? Missed calls problem or any other known problems?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My MDA Pro is usable as a phone since I got a bleutooth headset. Before that it wasnt a great phone. It is since I got a Siemens-Benq HHB-130, just love that headset.

Hi, Kassad, is it the bulky factor or the not-so-good sound quality of the internal speaker and mic that stops you from using it without a bluetooth headset? I've got a bluetooth headset, but I am not sure if I want to use it everytime I want to make a phone call or have a call come in.
BTW, how is the picture quality of the 1.3MP camera? How well does it capture video stuff? I will be interested in using it to take some short videos from time to time.
Thanks a lot.

on BT Headsets and Camera Functions
For me call quality is great but the bulk makes it akward to use at times. I wouldn't want to be fumbling with my Uni whilst walking, with a headset you just press the MFB and your talking... of course I get the: "hey did you earse my number???" everytime I ask who's on the line [as I don't see who's calling]. or the oddest thing I've gotten was: "Are you a handicap, a deaf-mute?" [not too many people with headsets here I suppose hahaha. By using a headset your hands are free to do other things as well.
--
As for the camera I barely use it as it's doesn't have the best of qualities. I wouldn't leave my Digicam if I wanted nice photos or a basic video clip. Maybe for spur of the moments snaps or vids in the morning [with good lighting] the camera is bearable.
--
Anyway apart from the bulk and the poor camera [I don't think theres any PPC with a nice camera, doesn't make it right but I guess it's a fact of life for the meantime] the Uni is a great device

renhui said:
Hi, Kassad, is it the bulky factor or the not-so-good sound quality of the internal speaker and mic that stops you from using it without a bluetooth headset? I've got a bluetooth headset, but I am not sure if I want to use it everytime I want to make a phone call or have a call come in.
BTW, how is the picture quality of the 1.3MP camera? How well does it capture video stuff? I will be interested in using it to take some short videos from time to time.
Thanks a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its the bulky factor, the sound quality is ok. With the headset much better tho.
Quality of the camera is only acceptable in full daylight when you're outside, any other situation, forget the camera.
But as an internet connected very small laptop its superb! I use it as my business device and love it.

I normally will not buy a phone that is 1 year old or more in the market, mobile phone technology moves very fast, you must get the latest!
Why not wait for HTC Omni or some other devices like O2 Flame?
Some will be out early next year.
Camera is ok, its 1.3MP but it has a extrapolated 2MP mode. But cannot beat the 3, 4 or 5 or event more MP digi cameras.
Night pics are ok if you have a stable hand and holding your breathe, the flash light is quite useless.
Video is also ok, in *.mp4 files. Full screen playback can be possible using TCPMP player.
Ringtone or stereo audio from the phone speakers ok. Phone Mic & Phone earpiece ok.
Bluetooth headsets with caller id or caller number type can be used.
Bluetooth stereo headsets can be supported with a registry hack available on this forum if you are not using the qtek rom.
My other PPC is iPAQ as in my signature.

R2 generic UK video rec

Does the new FW improve the quality of sound when recording video?
As I posted long time ago and never get any solution - the sound of the video is always strangely deformed,
WHILE when recording a sound note - it's fine!!!
Is it dependend on any setting OR the fact of storing video on memory card directly?

I actually never had this problem. What ROM are you using? I don't think it's caused by storing it on the storage card.. I mean, how the hell would that alter sound quality?
Try messing about with the settings a bit and also check what apps you installed, perhaps some codec got messed up a bit?

Haven't tested it, but, I would imagine that the bitrate used when recording video (128 kbps ?) is far inferior to the bitrate used while just recording audio only (>1000 kbps ?). Bitrate alone makes a big difference in sound quality.

Hmm
I havn't used it on older ROMs but hae taken quite a few vids of a robot I have been building over hte last few days and it has been fine, although the sound was mostly of myself and my team laughing and shouting, even the very loud sounds didn't clip or anything.

alias
Thanks for reply.

Using Bluetooth Audio Causes Judder in h264 Video Playback

Watching a movie that is h264 encoded while listening with bluetooth headphones causes a noticeable decrease in video quality. In slow panning scenes the amount of "judder", or stuttering is subtley increased. It gives the video a jerky feeling, as if the video is not quite smooth.
This effect is present across multiple video players in hardware decoding mode. The same videos play more smoothly when listening through wired headphones or the XOOM's built in speakers.
Again, I repeat this a somewhat subtle affect. I spent two days playing with video encoders and handbrake settings, driving myself crazy trying to smooth out my videos. Then, due to a battery failure in my samsung BT headset, I started watching movies with a wired headset and the cause finally dawned on me. I did multiple AB comparisons to confirm the problem.
So if your video doesn't seem quite right, and you are using BT audio, try wired audio or buit in speakers for a while, and compare.

I'm using moboplayer right now, and watching Top Chef masters that I encoded into h264 (via Handbrake).
I turned on soft-decoding option, it runs smoothly, and the audio works fine straight from the jack on the top and straight from the speakers.
EDIT: Oops didn't read the post all the way, Sorry.

overclock it a little and your problems will be solved.

patass said:
overclock it a little and your problems will be solved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I was thinking that too. Overclocking might solve the problem.
But wow! Wouldn't you think a 1GHz dual core CPU with hardware acceleration for h264 would be enough already just to play BT audio with your video? I'm just surprised overclocking is even necessary.
Edit: Just to point out - the video I'm playing has already been encoded specifically for the XOOM and is being handled by the hardware. The CPU should hardly be taxed to begin with. Is playing BT audio such a processor-intensive task that it should require more than a dual core 1GHz?