This is my second post as a new Android and Epic user. As my first post, I suggested a new name to a ROM developer here!
Alright, I have the Epic in my hands now and I am really enjoying it, especially after being on a small and not-very-user-friendly-and-slow touch screen on HTC Fuze (HTC Touch Pro) from AT&T. As I mentioned, I am new to Android and new to Epic, and I am facing the following issues, which could very well be user errors:
- I had seen several reviews on YouTube noting how good the camera on Epic was, but the pictures I have taken on Epic seem to me like they are from a 1.x megapixel camera!
I recently took a pic in a dimly lit restaurant and I was absolutely appalled by the quality of that pic. I couldn't even send it out to folks in the pic due to the low quality of the pic. The Fuze has a 3.2 megapixel camera and the pics on that phone are WAY better than the pics on the Epic with a 5 megapixel camera (I am aware megapixels are not everything, but still).
I took a few pics in my house, with more light, and the quality didn't improve at all. I couldn't find any posts related to low-quality pics on Epic. I installed Camera 360; the pics taken using 360 are 30% better than those taken with the default camera application on Epic. So, the hardware can do much better.
I was expecting the pics on the Epic to be really crisp and clear, but they are not, by miles. Am I doing something wrong?
- I changed the volume levels in "Sound and Display," but that's the only change in settings I have made. Now, I don't hear the sound that we hear after unlocking the phone by dragging the lock icon upward. What could be wrong?
- In Swype, I changed the setting to disable the haptic feedback, but enabled the tapping sounds. But I don't hear any tapping sounds when I tap on the keys. I am completely lost on this one.
- This is more of an issue due to my newness to Android and TouchWhiz. When I receive a notification about a new e-mail(s), and I click on the e-mail icon at the bottom of the screen, I see a list of all my e-mail accounts. How do I know which account received the new e-mail (out of the five accounts I have configured)?
- I have configured a default Gmail account for my Epic. I tried to send some pictures by using the "Share" feature and selecting my default Gmail account as the "sending" account. A small and short-lived pop-up said "sending message" but the "receiver" account received nothing, even after several tries. Although, I was able to send the same pics using other Gmail accounts on my phone. What could I be missing with the default Gmail account?
Sorry for such a long post, but I would really appreciate your help on the issues (or user errors) I am facing. Thanks!
P.S.: I am not planning to root my Epic just yet, as I would like to experience the phone as is for a month or so.
For the camera problem make sure you have the size set to 5 megapixels and the quality to superfine.
When you get an email slide down the notification bar and click on the alert, it will take you straight to the emails.
When I turned off the noise for selecting things on the screen it also stopped the lock screen noise.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
tatoniss said:
For the camera problem make sure you have the size set to 5 megapixels and the quality to superfine.
When you get an email slide down the notification bar and click on the alert, it will take you straight to the emails.
When I turned off the noise for selecting things on the screen it also stopped the lock screen noise.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
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Thanks for your reply. I have already set the resolution to 5 megapixels and the quality to superfine, but the pics still are subpar.
I am aware of the sliding down the notification curtain to go to the e-mails directly, but I was wondering if there was a setting or mod to indicate which account had new e-mails.
It explains that the turning off the tab sounds for the screen would also disable any tap sounds for the unlocking screen.
I am still open to input for my other issues, if someone knows how to solve them. Thanks.
why don't u take a pic of something and post it here so we can tell u if something is wrong?
here is a pic I took few days ago with max settings, what do you think of the quality?
if the quality isn't like this, then perhaps u need a new epic. if the quality is around that, then that's how epic takes pics
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
razorseal said:
why don't u take a pic of something and post it here so we can tell u if something is wrong?
here is a pic I took few days ago with max settings, what do you think of the quality?
if the quality isn't like this, then perhaps u need a new epic. if the quality is around that, then that's how epic takes pics
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
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Yes, I was initially planning to take a picture and post it for other members' review, but when I posted my first post, it was around 4 a.m. in the morning, so I couldn't find enough daylight to take some pics.
I am linking to a picture I took a few minutes ago, in low sunlight. The quality of this picture of outdoors is acceptable. I am also attaching a picture that I took at a restaurant; this picture - a cropped part of the pic with no modification to the quality of the pic - is just to show how grainy and washed out the picture is.
I understand the lighting in the restaurant was low, but still, even with the flash, the quality of the image leaves a lot to be desired. I took that pic with all the default settings, meaning I had not selected the "Indoor" scene mode (I am not sure if that would have improved the picture vastly). Correct me if I am wrong. Thanks.
Edit: I just took another pic of the outdoors using Camera 360 to compare the quality of the default camera application on the Epic to that of Camera 360's. This pic is sharper than the one taken by the default camera application on the Epic.
I noticed something about the signatures for the e-mail accounts. I changed my signature on one gmail account and it changed my signature on all my gmail accounts and my Exchange account. Shouldn't I be able to change the signatures individually?
For camera quality: are u tapping the screen and letting the little box turn green to focus?
Sent from my Epic 4G
ravizzle said:
For camera quality: are u tapping the screen and letting the little box turn green to focus?
Sent from my Epic 4G
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Yes, I am focusing before taking pictures. I got my phone swapped today and the new one's camera looks better. Although, how true is the notion that installation of apps can slow down the phone (quite natural) and this can affect the quality of the pictures because of the delay?
incisivekeith said:
Yes, I am focusing before taking pictures. I got my phone swapped today and the new one's camera looks better. Although, how true is the notion that installation of apps can slow down the phone (quite natural) and this can affect the quality of the pictures because of the delay?
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Not true at all. If u have many process intensive apps running I can see some some lag, but just installation of apps won't do anything.
Sent from my Epic 4G
ravizzle said:
Not true at all. If u have many process intensive apps running I can see some some lag, but just installation of apps won't do anything.
Sent from my Epic 4G
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That is what I thought. It doesn't fit that the lag on the phone can actually reduce the quality of the pictures taken by the camera.
On another note, I have imported contacts to my phone via a vCard file. I also have a default Gmail account configured on my phone. Can I sync the contacts on my phone with the Gmail account? And, can I sync contacts from my phone with Outlook Express or Outlook on my PC? I have been reading a lot of opinions on this, but none has had a definitive answer.
To sync the contacts stored on the phone to your gmail account, first you need to export your phones contacts to your sd card, then you import them right back in, but when given the choice, choose to import them to gmail account (all done through Settings->More->Import/Export, even if you already know some future reader may not )
When you have accomplished this, you will have multiple entries for each of your contacts, so you will want to go and either go to Settings->Display and deselect either the phone or gmail contacts, but I would suggest hiding the gmail, then deleting the (now duplicate) ones stored on the phone, then of course unhiding the gmail contacts. If you somehow delete one that didnt get uploaded to google properly or something, at least you already have a full backup on your sd card that you can reimport.
[Q] A few questions about and issues with the Epic from a new Android user
Koadic said:
To sync the contacts stored on the phone to your gmail account, first you need to export your phones contacts to your sd card, then you import them right back in, but when given the choice, choose to import them to gmail account (all done through Settings->More->Import/Export, even if you already know some future reader may not )
When you have accomplished this, you will have multiple entries for each of your contacts, so you will want to go and either go to Settings->Display and deselect either the phone or gmail contacts, but I would suggest hiding the gmail, then deleting the (now duplicate) ones stored on the phone, then of course unhiding the gmail contacts. If you somehow delete one that didn't get uploaded to google properly or something, at least you already have a full backup on your sd card that you can reimport.
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Thanks for your response. I haven't had the time to apply the workaround for the contacts, but I will certainly post the result here.
On another note, I was wondering about the following:
- Why doesn't the voice activated action take place automatically? When I say a voice command, instead of just performing the command, the device pops up a list of options (including an exact match of my voice command) matching my voice command. If I am required to select what I want to do from the pop-up list, what's the purpose of the voice commands?
Edit: The above functionality works that way, it seems.
- My battery indicator (and GPS Status app) shows the batter level at 97% when I receive a message on the device that the battery is full. How come? I read about this on the forum, but didn't find a solution or the cause for this. And interestingly, if I keep the phone plugged in a little longer, the indicator shows a charge of 100%, but as soon as I unplug the phone, it reverts to 97%.
I miss little things on Stock Android on the Epic such as the option to see the duration of calls. Shouldn't Stock Android (not the apps) have widgets similar to those on the Today Screen in Windows Mobile?
Any thoughts from the community? Thanks.
Edit: I just found out the the in-line controls for the headset for the Epic don't work reliably at all. I am not able to end a call when the screen is off. A couple of days ago, I was at least able to press the in-line control button and bring up Call Log on the phone; I am not able to do that today. Also, is it true that the in-line mic is faulty, too? I found some comments regarding the in-line controls and issues similar to mine in these threads (thread1, thread2), but no solution. Why are such basic functionality missing from such a good phone? Is there a solution to this?
I would appreciate some input on the issues I am facing, either saying there is no solution to some of them, or point me in the right direction. Thanks.
i get the same charging thing it will only charge to 97%. i bought two extra batteries and also came with an external battery charger, if i charge with the external charger and pop in the batteries they show 100% so it must be the phone isnt charging it to 100.
As far as the charging goes, I find that if I have it plugged into a lower power charger, like charging from a usb port on my computer, sometimes it will charge all the way to 100% and stay there when unplugged. Otherwise, I can get my phone to charge to 100% if I have the screen on full brightness while charging. I dont know if it is because it stops charging when it reaches a certain voltage or what, and if the screen is drawing power while charging, it isnt getting charged as fast, so it wont 'trip' the sensor saying the battery has a full charge as soon because the power draw keeping the voltage a little lower. Of course this is just speculation on my part.
My picture texts come in sooo small... and it also "plays" like a movie clip... 10 seconds of playing the still photo...
Whats up with this yo?
The largest file you can ssend over text is around 600kb I think; I never send videos but I chose to get my pictures rewized down to 600kbs on my phone.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA Premium App
But im talking about pictures coming in... I know it makes me resize going out .. my gf with an iphone 4 sends me pics and they're tinyyyy when I view them... and it plays like its a 10 second clip
I guess this is just how it is on this phone...
I have the same problem
Hi -
I've had the same issue and have a work around in place right now. (It's certainly not perfect, but it works)
If you don't have it, install the Astro File Browser (or another app that will serve as a picture viewer.)
Long press the MMS
Choose "View picture"
Pick the Astro File Viewer (or other app).
Voila
My hunch is that MMS's sent from an iPhone come in wonky. But it could just be all of them right now.
Hope this helps a bit.
Cheers
Durrr ... so after reading your suggestion to long press the thumbnail, I see that I have the option to view picture and then its full screen....
Hi, I've noticed that the Gallery app is slightly different from my S6 in that it includes all pictures on my phone when i click on the Gallery button in Camera app.
Is there anyway to exclude all pictures except for the ones that the camera takes, like in my S6?
It a bit annoying that there is always a meme (from whatsapp group chats) in the bottom corner of the Camera
Same concern here, did you find any solution?
This has been an issue since Note 7 and I have not found any solution yet, except going directly to gallery/albums/camera instead.
You can find your solution right here: http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/rep...hide-whatsapp-photos-from-the-gallery-2147794
llaugerm said:
You can find your solution right here: http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/rep...hide-whatsapp-photos-from-the-gallery-2147794
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I have used "no media" on my N7 to stop advertising pics showing up in gallery back when I had it (yep, advertising pics were showing up in gallery too), but that's really not a solution, since in my case I have tons of media files on my phone and I want them to show as media files, just not inside gallery open from camera. I have not seen advertising pics showing up in S8 gallery, but pictures that I downloaded from internet do show up.
I have the same issue! But with camera app.
I have the same problem on my S8. I don't want them to hide from gallery but at the same time they shouldn't be included in the camera.
I have the same problem, and I haven't found the fix yet. The .nomedia fixes the problem, but it isn't good as a permanent solution.
*Necromancer ⚠*
My Solution is to use Quick Pic! Been using it for years! (even b4 CM purchase. No they didn't molest it) It allows Hiding with or without password.
I give up on Gallery!
Obviously, .nomedia is not a real solution, to this day from Note4 to Note8. It would be nice, if like Open Camera allow an app to be used when clicking "Gallery" icon. I still use OC frequently, but some features are not exposed to 3rd party apps!
I can say it's embarrassing to show pictures &andaccidently swipe. Showing some of my Tumblr saves..
Use ES File Explorer to find the Cache holders and set them to hidden.
.nomedia only works until you clear the app cache and then it's deleted along with it.
If the gallery can't see the folder, it can't display it's contents.
Where are these cache holders?