Database Users

Contact Picture Quality

I'm probably not the first to 'complain' about this... but I thought I'd put it all together in one post and see if anyone was having the same issues, or same results...
So...
Trying to 'Sync' Facebook contact pics with my x10 contact pics - tried a few apps, and while most of them did the job to some degree, with varying results, but mainly the same level of disappointment, one thing I found with all of them was that the resolution was abysmal to say the least...
I found also that if I opened Facebook, I could view any of my own profile pics, and I was given the option to assign them to a contact – great (sort of) providing the only people I know are myself. Friends pictures were ‘locked’ such that the assign to contact option did not exist - silly, really.
Now, while fiddling with my phone, I discovered that the some of the Facebook contact syncing apps actually downloaded a full quality pic to my device – perfect – now let me see if I can open them and assign them to a contact... nope, no luck – interestingly, they were ‘locked’ just like they were when I opened them through Facebook – no option to assign them to a contact.
Now, I move them to another folder (one which had pics that I could assign) and all of a sudden, they were unlocked... funniest thing was that pics left in the original folder I took them from were also unlocked... odd... good too, but odd.
So happily assigning all these full definition contact pics, I then had a look at them, and the resolution was again abysmal... WTF...! Anyway, one last go, and instead of going via the picture to assign it to a contact, I went through the contact then assigned a picture to it... Success...! this time proper resolution...!
So from this I assume that going through the picture, or any syncing apps, you’re only getting a contact pic as good a quality as the Android system expects. However, if you go through the contact, the x10 is getting a contact pic at the full quality it knows it needs to display...
Anyway, take what you will from this, but I thought it was interesting...

same over here, the pictures I assigned to my contacts are very high quality and they all look like sh#t on the phone when some one calls me.
It is full of noise and extremely blurry. Really don't understand why...They can't be made this for such a low quality so I assume we do something wrong, but I can't figure it out. Do we need very big resolution pictures to get them proper on this phone? But thanks for the tip, working the other way around does work good, but it keeps being strange...
Cheers.
Arnold

Consider that a phone call needs to pop-up right away. Why waste the processing speed to show a full resolution image?
Note: I think an update that went around to some regions cleaned up the resolution a bit.

iead1 said:
Consider that a phone call needs to pop-up right away. Why waste the processing speed to show a full resolution image?
Note: I think an update that went around to some regions cleaned up the resolution a bit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not the brazilian update.

I'm willing to swear that it's a donut issue... mainly because going the Android way in is ugly, and the SE way in is on the money...
You'll also notice the Android way gives you a square pic, and the SE way gives you an elongated pic to fit with their interface...
iead1 said:
Consider that a phone call needs to pop-up right away. Why waste the processing speed to show a full resolution image?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed that it might be low res for this reason, but the x10 can handle the hi res just as good - and considering the contact pics are so large, you definitely want them full res.
Hopefully SE do some updates to improve this... Hopefully...

k1sr said:
You'll also notice the Android way gives you a square pic, and the SE way gives you an elongated pic to fit with their interface...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Problem is, I don't wan't the elongated pic or the square pic.
With WinMo I could put any pic format.
Why should I be restricted in Android?

Only 2 questions I couldn't find the answer to...

I came from an HD2, and what HTC wrote over in WinMo 6.5 I thought was great, especially the gallery app, which cleared up an image when you zoomed in. I've noticed that this phone does not do that. When I zoom in on a picture I took it just turns all fuzzy, like it's been compressed or something. I know the pics are high res cause they look great on my computer, but I just can't understand why they don't clear up when you zoom in. Anyone else experience this? The only other issue I've noticed is that every once in a while I'll open an app up, lets say the web browser, and it pops up and then just force closes. Several others I know with a Vibrant/Captivate are having this problem as well, and I was just curious if anyone knew the cause. I'm totally new to Android so please pardon me if these are dumb questions.

for the second half of your post you should get your phone replaced.
there have been a couple people on here that had that issue with "sticking" buttons so apps would randomly close or settings would popup.

As for your first issue, it sounds to me as though you are zooming into the thumbnail version of the picture. Perhaps the full high-res version is actually found in another pile/folder under the gallery. I don't think the thumbnails are generally viewable separately, though I do see a lot of other media gathered up from various apps which can be kinda annoying.

No I promise I'm not zooming on the thumbnails, I'm clicking the folder with all of my pictures in it, and it'll let me zoom in on them, but they never clear up. It's not the camera cause the resolution is right, just the zooming isn't working properly. it's weird, and frustrating.

I definitely don't have the camera problem. I tested it with photos I took as well as wallpapers in my gallery. I assume you are using the gallery app, right?
If you're getting FCs on stock apps you may want to just do a factory data reset (settings/privacy). It happens occasionally to all android phones and the only sure fix I've seen is a reset. Make sure you're not using task killers or home replacement apps (pandahome, openhome, etc) as they can cause a lot of FCs in my experience.

You might have your camera resolution on lowest settings. Try a higher setting and let us know. The default resolution is 640x480.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Checked the resolution of the camera and the pictures themselved and they're both 5MP, so I really don't know what the problem is now. It is rather frustrating though, when I zoom I want to see the details of the image not a fuzzy picture. Another thing I've just had happen to me is trying to copy over a 4.5GB MKV file at 720p I got the message "The file 'Up' is too large for the destination file system" I don't get that cause I have 6GB free on the phone and 6GB free on the 16GB micro SD. My phone hates me :'(

the 4.5gb MKV isn't a Samsung issue. It's a filesystem issue, relating to the default filesystem used on the sd card memory. FAT32 has a file size limit of 4gb.
It might seem a bit frustrating that you will have to re-encode that huge MKV, but considering that you can count on the fingers of one hand the smartphones that would even be able to smoothly play the video in that container in the first place, it's a small price to pay.

I know the phone could play it, it chews through my 720p copies of Top Gear without so much as a hiccup, and they're nearly the same bit-rate. I think you're right about counting the phones that could do that though because my HD2 didn't have a chance. I didn't know fat32 had a file size limit though, that's very useful information and thank you very much for that. Any ideas on the gallery app problem?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

I had/have a HD2, and now a Vibrant that I am using.
I know what you are talking about with the pictures looking pixelated on the Vibrant when you zoom in, but look fine on the HD2. I too, would like a solution to this. Maybe another app does this.

I know exactly what you're talking about and it really is quite annoying. As if losing the flash wasn't bad enough, now even my old photos look bad on it. I've figured out firstly that the stock android gallery app has a 16 bit limit but that's not the issue I'd imagine. What I believe to be the culprit is that, as far as I can tell, what the image viewer does is it actually automatically downsizes all your photos which would explain the pictures' butchered quality. Of course it's just a theory but it seems to check out. Unfortunately I have yet to find a decent replacement app or a solution thus far. And not to dash your hopes but I hear the problem also exists in froyo. Kinda disheartening for such an awesome multimedia phone.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App with swype

+1.. I also know what you mean, I had the HD2 and zooming in on the pictures on this phone sucks!. I am sure there is an image viewer somewhere that would work well

Yes! Glad to hear I'm not the only one with this issue. I was beginning to think I was alone! I am by no means a developer, but I think it's probably the scaling algorithim, though it would be interesting to check it out on another phone running 2.1. Next time I activate a Captivate at work I'll check that as well, it'd be really weird if that one worked correctly!!

I've figured something out. When you look at photos in the actual camera app, and zoom in that viewer, the pictures look fine, it's only in the actual gallery app where the zoom doesn't work properly...

I definetly do not have the issue with zooming in on pictures (camera or gallery) and I have yet to have a FC on any app. You mentioned the browser, any other apps FC'ing on you?
Have you done anything (other than root if you have)?
Are you using a TK?
Can you give more details?

I know what you mean by zooming the pics. Try image viewer, its awesome and zooms in great
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Well it's only the browser that's done it, and it's only happened once to me, so I'm really not worried about that one. A power cycle took care of it right then and there. As for the zooming, like I said in the camera app itself it works fine, but in the gallery app it's not too good. I'm not rooted (yet), and I have no task killer because I've heard more bad things than good things about those. Idk how else to describe the problem, it just seems like when I zoom in it's like the file is a very low resolution and gets very pixelated and when I check the properties I know it's a 5MP picture, so idk what's going on.

Something I never noticed so I just tested and you're right!
It's the way the built in gallery app works. It creates a thumbnail of all images and that's what it displays. You can even see the thumbnail images if you explore the phone memory. The only way around it is to download and use a different image viewer.

I suggest large image viewer! It is a bit spartan in terms of features and ui but it has the best image viewing of all the apps I tried! Btw the default image viewer basically makes a lower res bitmap of all your pictures and it's impossible (I think) to actually view the original images from within the gallery app. Why it would do this? I have no clue, seems like poor programming to me. Perhaps it's the cost we pay for the nifty though relatively pointless 3d effects.
Sent from my Samsung Vibrant using the XDA app. You may thank Swype for any and all grammar errors.

fed up of standard camera?... try camera360 pro

I like many on here was very disappointed with the quality of the camera, but thanks to the excellent guide posted on here it improved it 10 fold, but i decided to give a camera app a try anyway and looking through "htc likes" apps on My phone stumbled onto an app called "camera360".. I thought i'd give it a try as it gives you a free trial version (limited to just the basics).. and after a while (getting used to the many many options) decided to buy it, this is the first app ive bought for my dhd.. only costs $3.99 (around £2.69).. it had a handy paypal link so no messing about with my credit card etc.. if you pay with paypal it instantly becomes the pro version (it did for me anyway). They also send you an email with the file and instructions to make it the full (pro) version in case you have to do it manually or reinstall it (after a factory reset etc).It also says it gives you free updates when they're released. It has anti shake, effects, HDR, and loads more options i haven't got a clue what they all do yet! lol. The only "problems" ive had with it is although i can take 8mp pics it doesnt like me trying to take 8mp widescreen ones, and the zoom is slightly less than the htc standard camera, these may be able to be fixed by someone with more knowledge on the camera side of things. I havent got round to posting any samples but hopefully with starting this thread other people using the app will be able to post images on here (as i am a total newbie)..There are sites that gives a brief review of it (including sample pictures of the various effects available) I am unable to post the link to the review sites (as its only my third or so post). just type "camera360" in your search engine and read up on it .Like i said it works great on my phone, give it a try.. if ya dont like it just uninstall it (you have nothing to lose after all)

I have also installed the free version of cam360 and its got a ton more options than the standard camera, I will ave to try and take some comparisons - although someone with some more advanced knowledge of cameras would be better. The annoyances with 360 is the dodgey English throughout and a quite complicated interface, still use the stock one for now, just because its faster to start up, and with the guide on xda its not too bad.
I might upgrade if I can tell there is a solid advantage over stock app.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

I've tried this a few days ago but I don't like the way this app returns non-accurate colors.
Cheers from my DHD.

Camera360 is really good.

Can you guys enlighten me how bad the camera is. I thought it is clear enough.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

I just tried several versions including the latest 1.3 version of Camera 360 Pro and there is NO ghost setting/effect, how or where do you get it from as it is not in the list...

Hi..the ghosting effect needs to be downloaded (free)..its an add on, i think its on the apps store.. it puts images of ghosts on the pic (they look like the girl from "the ring" series).. you really have to look to see her though, its quite good how they put it in the pic..it randomly places the image on the photo.

mrflatout said:
Hi..the ghosting effect needs to be downloaded (free)..its an add on, i think its on the apps store.. it puts images of ghosts on the pic (they look like the girl from "the ring" series).. you really have to look to see her though, its quite good how they put it in the pic..it randomly places the image on the photo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for that mrflatout!

I have Camera360 on my DX, and the app doesn't seem to focus in either of the focal modes I choose. Anyone else have this problem? Is there another way to focus?
In manual focus mode, I'll press the button halfway for focus, like in the regular stock camera, and a message appears informing me that the shot is now in focus and to take the picture. Only, it didn't focus. When I load the stock camera, and hold halfway, I notice how it takes about a second or two to focus, and the shot is much clearer than the Camera360 app.
It's really frustrating since I paid money for this, and I like all the features, but it doesn't focus!
I must be doing something wrong.
----
Okay, I fixed my issue. All I needed to do was uninstall and reinstall the app. Once I did that, the camera focuses like it should.

I tried it but it keeps force closing, i think i will remove and download again. Just to try it.

[Q] Photo Resolution

I no longer have the Samsung Focus but I keep monitoring these forums just in case I change my mind in the future.
While I had the phone I noticed that even though I had set the camera to 5 megapixel, the pictures I emailed, manually uploaded to SkyDrive or the ones that the phone automatically uploaded to SkyDrive camera roll were all severely lowered in resolution. The dimensions of these photos were reduced to 719x539. I never tried syncing the phone to my laptop via the Zune software.
I do not recall seeing anywhere a setting that would account for this severe drop in resolution. I know that when sending photos via MMS they need to be reduced in size, but I am not talking MMS.
Why were all these photos reduced in resolution? Did I miss something in setting up the phone?

It is done so to save your cell data usage. From what I hear, there should be an option to upload full-res phone but never tried.

foxbat121 said:
It is done so to save your cell data usage. From what I hear, there should be an option to upload full-res phone but never tried.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that is so, nice to see that whoever decided this thinks about the consumer, but ultimately the choice should be yours not Microsoft's. Let the user take advantage of that 5 megapixel camera. Not much different than Microsoft's decision to not support hidden WiFi networks and the lame reasoning behind that.
If there is a setting to allow full res uploads, great. I haven't seen it though, but of course it wouldn't be the first time I overlooked something. But I did look for it and could not find it. If this setting is available thru one of the diagnostics codes, that is not acceptable.
Most likely using Zune would allow full resolution. I just never go to trying it. But even so, personally I want to be as much self sufficient as I can without constantly needing a laptop or desktop.

Think of this way: photos uploaded to the cloud are intended to be used by web viewing. Full-res 5MP photo is just a waste of time and resource in this intended purpose. I think Microsoft did the right decision here. As with most of the features in WP7, they are what they are for the practical usage of that feature for majority of the consumers without the need to tweak it. Most ppl today has a limited data plan, it won't be too many pictures before they use up their 2GB data cap or worse, 200MB. Remember once the upload feature is turned on, it will automatically upload every picture you take. Imagine you forget that and used up all your data caps in a day when you take loads photos for your kid.

Xoom for Home Control and Monitoring

In the event that others may find it useful or interesting, I’ve been trying to use my Xoom as sort of a “Home Control Unit”. The basic idea is that the Xoom would become a sort of home “companion” device. Whether it’s the living room, bedroom, bathroom, etc, the control of the homes main systems from a single consolidated handheld UI.
The first evolution was simply installing IP Cam on it to view the few network cameras that I have in and around the house…nothing kinky (front door, alley, general perimeter and points of entry stuff). Works like a champ. I have a couple of widgets on my main home screen that do not update very often (user defined) that offer one click access to real-time video streams from any of the cameras or combined/matrix view. Nothing ground-breaking, but fun to geek out over. Want to see who’s at the front door? Pick up the Xoom and see…etc.
The Xoom actually served VERY well as a camera placement tester. When I was positioning the actual cameras, I had the Xoom sitting next to them, showing the current video (allowing me to tweak angles, focus, etc).
The next step will be implementing one of the home control systems (probably a MiCasa device which handles X10, Zigby and ZWave protocols) that I would access from the Xoom. This would allow me to control everything from lights, thermostat, etc to temp and water alarms. Hopefully, it will happen sooner rather than later.
Anyway, it seemed like a pretty low-level of effort thing that others might get a kick out of...

I'm quite interested in this can you detail what cameras and software you use? i've been thinking about doing something like this as well

DToX69 said:
I'm quite interested in this can you detail what cameras and software you use? i've been thinking about doing something like this as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right now, all of my cameras are TrendNets, but I made the mistake of getting cams from each of their classes (SecureView and Pro). For some damn reason, the bundled software can only manage cameras in the same family. That just makes managing things like recording and desktop views etc from a PC a pain, but no real difference on the Xoom.
Each camera (as well as those of most other IP camera brands that ive looked at) has the ability to set up motion detection and subsequent recording from their respective web interfaces, so as long as you have an app that can reach into network files shares, etc, you can even pull up historical feeds. The guy that makes the IP Cam android app updates pretty often (I'd say there's been an update every 3rd or 4th time I check for updates) and maintains a seemingly long list of suppored cameras.
If the main goal is to simply view from the xoom and basic recording onto a PC, then it doesn't really matter what brand/model of network camera you get. The only trick is to make sure you know where you want to put them before you buy them .... things like indoor/outdoor, power over ethernet and pan and tilt options are usually dictated by where you want to put them and it sucks when you realize you'd rather have bought different cams.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App

gigglebox said:
Right now, all of my cameras are TrendNets, but I made the mistake of getting cams from each of their classes (SecureView and Pro). For some damn reason, the bundled software can only manage cameras in the same family. That just makes managing things like recording and desktop views etc from a PC a pain, but no real difference on the Xoom.
Each camera (as well as those of most other IP camera brands that ive looked at) has the ability to set up motion detection and subsequent recording from their respective web interfaces, so as long as you have an app that can reach into network files shares, etc, you can even pull up historical feeds. The guy that makes the IP Cam android app updates pretty often (I'd say there's been an update every 3rd or 4th time I check for updates) and maintains a seemingly long list of suppored cameras.
If the main goal is to simply view from the xoom and basic recording onto a PC, then it doesn't really matter what brand/model of network camera you get. The only trick is to make sure you know where you want to put them before you buy them .... things like indoor/outdoor, power over ethernet and pan and tilt options are usually dictated by where you want to put them and it sucks when you realize you'd rather have bought different cams.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah yea i'll research a bunch of cameras before i buy any that's for sure
I'd like to be able to control pretty much everything in my home from a tablet, view and adjust temps, lights, view current power usage something to interface with Google PowerMeter sounds like a good idea to me

DToX69 said:
Ah yea i'll research a bunch of cameras before i buy any that's for sure
I'd like to be able to control pretty much everything in my home from a tablet, view and adjust temps, lights, view current power usage something to interface with Google PowerMeter sounds like a good idea to me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the actual controlling of home systems, I've been looking at the following:
http://www.micasaverde.com/
The actual control unit is the Vera. I know that theres a Vera 2 running around somewhere, but I cant find it on their site right now.
http://shop.micasaverde.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=100&products_id=88

Great find! We are building a new house and I've been searching around trying to find a solution like this.

gigglebox said:
Right now, all of my cameras are TrendNets, but I made the mistake of getting cams from each of their classes (SecureView and Pro). For some damn reason, the bundled software can only manage cameras in the same family. That just makes managing things like recording and desktop views etc from a PC a pain, but no real difference on the Xoom.
Each camera (as well as those of most other IP camera brands that ive looked at) has the ability to set up motion detection and subsequent recording from their respective web interfaces, so as long as you have an app that can reach into network files shares, etc, you can even pull up historical feeds. The guy that makes the IP Cam android app updates pretty often (I'd say there's been an update every 3rd or 4th time I check for updates) and maintains a seemingly long list of suppored cameras.
If the main goal is to simply view from the xoom and basic recording onto a PC, then it doesn't really matter what brand/model of network camera you get. The only trick is to make sure you know where you want to put them before you buy them .... things like indoor/outdoor, power over ethernet and pan and tilt options are usually dictated by where you want to put them and it sucks when you realize you'd rather have bought different cams.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried the IP Camera App from the market? I use it on my Galaxy S paired with a wireless FOSCAM. Works great and has a 2x2 mode as well as a 3x3 mode.
Only have my camera setup for my son's room and haven't enabled access from anything outside our wireless network, so I haven't been able to see it from work, but I think it's interesting.
I've been looking at zigbee and x10 solutions as well. Not to outfit the whole house, but some exterior lighting and stereo.

Have you all looked at HomeSeer?
That have an android app:
www.homeseer.com
http://board.homeseer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1047