Now that bal666's awesome utility gives us the ability to decrypt/encrypt the NBF file, we can view and/or extract the ROM files that are normally not available to us otherwise.
One big hoopla that Windows Mobile 5.0 was supposed to have was the native ability to access the camera through their APIs, so that third-party developers could create applications without having to deal with each and every different type of camera technology in different Pocket PC and Smartphone devices.
Of course, it's apparent that HTC has still used their own software and drivers and has not given access to anyone outside of HTC. Not like Microsoft had their own Camera application (I don't know if there ever was one, but there isn't a Microsoft one on the Universal).
Developers such as ComVu with their neat PocketCaster software, are having such a difficult time making a single Windows Mobile 5.0-ready application, and have resorted to making different versions for different devices.
So... where am I going with this? Simple. Let's dump out the contents of the NK.NBF file and see if we can make our own applications with the APIs and drivers that HTC has embedded in the ROM.
I, for one, am looking forward to a internet-based videoconferencing application, much like Microsoft Portrait. Skype also announced video calls on PCs with the new version 2.0. Perhaps someone could send them some code to get video capability on the Universal?
That front-facing camera is beckoning to be used...
On a sidenote, PPL: Pocket Programming Language, allows you to easily create applications (self-contained EXE files, as a matter of fact), and also allows direct access to DLLs and APIs...
Put these two concepts together, and you can see the potential.
Create an application to...
... toggle the camera flashlight.
... do internet videoconferencing.
... do face recognition security.
Create your own camera app, phone app, game using images from the camera, etc. etc.
Another thing, though I'm not sure, but perhaps it's possible to rebuild your own ROM... remove Voice Speed Dial? Embed Voice Command, Resco Explorer, remove stupid applications or unused portions? etc. etc.
What does anyone else think about this?
BtT,
This sounds great, even having only a magician which will likely not being supported in projects like this. I still want to create my own rom with at least all the patches installed in rom. Camera & Album are taking at least 1Mb from my precious storage & apps like resco explorer are indeed must haves.
So I'm looking rorward to progress & tips in this thread & when I succeed with simple magician rom cooking I'll let you know. Don't expect any new camera apps from me, no time & no development for anymore .
Regards, M
http://research.microsoft.com/workshops/FS2005/presentations/FacultySummit_2005_Lieberman.ppt
I just realized that Windows Mobile 5 SDK contains a "common camera API" which is likely the method that third-party developers will take (or have taken) to access the camera. I have emailed Skype to see if their new 2.0 desktop version that has Video Calling can be somehow implemented on the Pocket PC, now that it is technically feasible.
I'm surprised the guys behind Microsoft Portrait haven't jumped on this yet.
I am currently working on a new framework to use on top of CF, that allows for fingerfriendly development on Windows Mobile phones, and would like to hear your thoughts and ideas (of cause this is a really early version).
The idea is to mimic the way that you create winform applications, but since it is based on the GDI+, you have the possibility to use it all the way from throwing a few buttons in an application, all the way down to just using the graphical manager to take care of load balancing.
Have a bit more details on my blog along with the first sample video showing the scroll feature, and the transistion effect between panels (basicly the same as forms).
The video
The blog
So if there are any features that you would like, please write me.
Come on xda users/devs in HTC tattoo section, we've got to participate more
energetic on this forum, not only when we have the need to ask some questions.
So.. the poll for this week, what would you change in HTC Tattoo,
if the HTC inc. would give you these options.
1) It's resistive screen
2) It's OS (some people would like Windows Mobile)
3) It's Camera (more pixels, or and flash)
4) It's look & Style (some people don't like it's style)
5) Other (if other option, tell us what?)
Think seriously and vote
Also you can choose 2 options on the POLL!!!
Autofocus Camera... Scanning Barcodes sucks on the Tattoo
elmargol said:
Autofocus Camera... Scanning Barcodes sucks on the Tattoo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeap i know... anyway
For all those people who vote, tell us why you voted this option
Okay then:
- The resistive screen because it does not support multitouch
- The camera, because it doesn't even has a flash light
Concerning look and style I have to say that it is cool that the Tattoo is fully skinnable - so no complaints on that
Greets
I've voted for camera, because i need autofocus for barcodes and text. Also I voted for other, because I want to get OS updates from HTC until warranty ends Or at least just open closed modules' source
TheSSJ said:
Okay then:
- The resistive screen because it does not support multitouch
- The camera, because it doesn't even has a flash light
Concerning look and style I have to say that it is cool that the Tattoo is fully skinnable - so no complaints on that
Greets
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally agree
NForce25 said:
I've voted for camera, because i need autofocus for barcodes and text. Also I voted for other, because I want to get OS updates from HTC until warranty ends Or at least just open closed modules' source
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahaha, i din't think about the update, but yes i'm sure you 've right
Summing all these opinions, i think we should send this POLL to HTC when it will end
'cause i know it's a low budget phone but it's missing some things very important.
Personally i voted for camera (autofocus) i don't mind having flash or not, i d rather
use a digital camera for shooting although the autofocus is very important for some apps and not only.. :/
About the style, i like it a lot, and the one i put a fav. stick on is the skinnable option
on this mobile, so i put a +1 on this mobile.
Now as it concerns to the update, i think that HTC doesn't want to update this mobile
cause everybody is going to buy this low budget mobile and not her mid-budget mobiles
as HERO, or as LEGEND etc...
Personally i've seen an htc tattoo running firmware 2.1 with a custom ROM and it looks
very very fast! so.. HTC what are you waiting for ?
I would like to change OS to 2.1 android
Same as battery... Need a larger one!
Stiflerlv said:
I would like to change OS to 2.1 android
Same as battery... Need a larger one!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when i'll try the 2600 mAh i ll tell you
Nice, thanks for voting
I would have clicked camera, as this is my main bugbear with the phone -- that it does not have autofocus. Really annoying as I was lead to believe it did have before I bought it, and hence assumed that the barcode scanners would wokr once they were made available for QVGA.
But i ticked other, and this is more related to Android and Google and how it handles this phone. I would like to see the market changed so I can download things that we all know don't appear because someone has forgotten to click the "works on QVGA". I'd like to see something more similar to SlideMe where it shows the compatability options. I have used the market fix via SDK, but its time consuming.
- Mark
brandmarked said:
I would have clicked camera, as this is my main bugbear with the phone -- that it does not have autofocus. Really annoying as I was lead to believe it did have before I bought it, and hence assumed that the barcode scanners would wokr once they were made available for QVGA.
But i ticked other, and this is more related to Android and Google and how it handles this phone. I would like to see the market changed so I can download things that we all know don't appear because someone has forgotten to click the "works on QVGA". I'd like to see something more similar to SlideMe where it shows the compatability options. I have used the market fix via SDK, but its time consuming.
- Mark
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
but i think that some devs here "fixed" the issue with the market store
djhancks said:
+1
but i think that some devs here "fixed" the issue with the market store
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, there is market enabler -- but you need to have rooted your phone. (unless someone knows another way?)
I've done the whole download SDK to my laptop and set-up an image for a virtual device (320 x 480 res phone) with the image allowing access to the pretty much everything on the market (I get over 400 results when searching on 'video' compared to 163 when searching on my phone). So I can just run my virtual device and grab the apk using a file explorer like Astro. But it means I have to be at my laptop at home. And, the main time I browse the market is when I'm commuting on the train -- so would just like the market to work. Too many people seem to have problems with it, not just us Tattoo users. Everything about Android is open, but the market has unnecessary complications that limit it.
brandmarked said:
Yep, there is market enabler -- but you need to have rooted your phone. (unless someone knows another way?)
I've done the whole download SDK to my laptop and set-up an image for a virtual device (320 x 480 res phone) with the image allowing access to the pretty much everything on the market (I get over 400 results when searching on 'video' compared to 163 when searching on my phone). So I can just run my virtual device and grab the apk using a file explorer like Astro. But it means I have to be at my laptop at home. And, the main time I browse the market is when I'm commuting on the train -- so would just like the market to work. Too many people seem to have problems with it, not just us Tattoo users. Everything about Android is open, but the market has unnecessary complications that limit it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's a very smart way not to root your mobile and still get the same job
I hate rooting my mobile and flashing this... it's like havin' your iphone jailbroke
what's the point? i want HTC to prevent me from doing this by provide me
with the correct os option.. so HTC what are you waiting for ?
TBH, as an entry level device the Tattoo is pretty good. Whilst I'd love a capacitive screen it would be wasted on the small screen of the tattoo.
However, a decent camera allowing barcode scanning would be good
Capacitive screen will make me boast.
Auto-focus camera with added flash will be great.
And a soft back/return/close button or gesture will make more usable (fully depending on hard is keys is not reliable when aging)
Lastly missing of my 3G is the worst (aah! 3G+Secondary camera should be a must). I am still waiting for a 3G fix on this Indian version.
Camera for barcodes and close-up photos (only autofocus, I don't care about resolution too much)
Screen, mainly for multi-touch support.
I would also like an upgrade to Android 2.x because I really need BlueTooth.
Hi Everybody,
I'm quite a new android developer (but not a begineer in software development), and I'm developing a simple application using the front camera (it is basically a mirror application ). My application is available in the market under the following name: MagicMirror-Lite
As the second camera seems not to be a standard in the android sdk, I need to find how to use the front camera for each device.
I already find how to use samsung galaxy S and sprint devices but I need now to know how to access to the front camera on the dell streak.
Does anyone can help me on this?
Many thanks in advance,
cheers.
would you be willing to share how you got to the second camera? I'm coming up empty and have an i-mobile i858 with a second camera but no way beyond its built in camera.apk to get to it.
The android camera api is worthless here.
Hey there,
I tried to create an app with the HTC One M8 and it´s Duallens "depthsensor".
The problem is that there is no way to activate the second rear camera in android.
In android.hardware.camera package there are some hidden methods like : enableSubCam...so I´ll tried to use java reflection to activate these SubCam, but it doesn´t work at all...
I need some depth information in realtime for my application and I thought with the new DualLens this would be possible.
Also I tried to understand the HTC DualLens SDK, but all this stuff works on an jpg format and without creating an new depthMap
So what do you think is the best method to access 1. the second rear camera or 2. directly some kind of depthMap with help from HTC SDK?
gurd123 said:
Hey there,
I tried to create an app with the HTC One M8 and it´s Duallens "depthsensor".
The problem is that there is no way to activate the second rear camera in android.
In android.hardware.camera package there are some hidden methods like : enableSubCam...so I´ll tried to use java reflection to activate these SubCam, but it doesn´t work at all...
I need some depth information in realtime for my application and I thought with the new DualLens this would be possible.
Also I tried to understand the HTC DualLens SDK, but all this stuff works on an jpg format and without creating an new depthMap
So what do you think is the best method to access 1. the second rear camera or 2. directly some kind of depthMap with help from HTC SDK?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i remember there was an app (german) that take 2 pictures at the same time from both rear cameras but the app was just to show that both work so it was like open app>automatic capture>save both pictures>exit.
got it : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2722352
yeah I´ve seen this app, but it´s hard coded on the linux kernel ...
and like I said I´ll try to calculate the depthMap in realtime, so a continious Depth-Matrix with opencv for example and not just a jpg
isn´t there a possibility to access the hardware components of an smartphone and activate them?
gurd123 said:
yeah I´ve seen this app, but it´s hard coded on the linux kernel ...
and like I said I´ll try to calculate the depthMap in realtime, so a continious Depth-Matrix with opencv for example and not just a jpg
isn´t there a possibility to access the hardware components of an smartphone and activate them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe this will help you
Code:
[URL="https://www.htcdev.com/devcenter/opensense-sdk/htc-dual-lens-api/htc-dual-lens-sdk-installation/"]https://www.htcdev.com/devcenter/opensense-sdk/htc-dual-lens-api/htc-dual-lens-sdk-installation/[/URL]
like I said in the first post, I´ve tried to understand the SDK, but in my oppinion it´s not for creating a file...
you´re just allowed to use the already created depth information of an jpg-file...
or has anyone made some other experiences with the SDK?
Have you solved the problem?
Hi,
I have the similar situation and would like to know if you have found a solution to this problem.
I agree with you that the SDK provided by the HTC website is for depth info extraction from already created image. The SDK is not viable for realtime depth processing.
Please let me know if you have the solution for this problem.
Thanks!
gurd123 said:
Hey there,
I tried to create an app with the HTC One M8 and it´s Duallens "depthsensor".
The problem is that there is no way to activate the second rear camera in android.
In android.hardware.camera package there are some hidden methods like : enableSubCam...so I´ll tried to use java reflection to activate these SubCam, but it doesn´t work at all...
I need some depth information in realtime for my application and I thought with the new DualLens this would be possible.
Also I tried to understand the HTC DualLens SDK, but all this stuff works on an jpg format and without creating an new depthMap
So what do you think is the best method to access 1. the second rear camera or 2. directly some kind of depthMap with help from HTC SDK?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse