Civilization Revolution 2 - Can you get it running? - G3 General

I absolutely love the Civilization franchise, and simple as it is, the original Civ Rev on 360 brought me into the series. Now they have released Civ Rev 2 in Android, and despite some user frustration, comments of the update improving things and the quality of my G3's specs made me want to give this a go. Unfortunately, I can't get it running (keeps crashing after requesting offline permission). I think maybe it's an ART problem, so i will try switching back to dalvik for a fix. But i am curious, has anyone else tried? Any success?
Update: runs in dalvik. Must not be optimized for vART

DWilso3 said:
Update: runs in dalvik. Must not be optimized for vART
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the heads-up. So what do you think of the game? Is the G3 screen and interface good enough to handle it?

Everything about it is smooth, for the most part. There is an occasional stutter (rare), bit mostly it's clean and intuitive. I think the screen does a fantastic job rendering it. Major battery hog (on par with screen), but runs fine when plugged in (a bit warm, but nothing I haven't gotten from youtube while charging). It looks nearly identical to the original on 360, but shrunk down a bit. The tutorial doesn't explain things all that well, but it doesn't take long to figure it out. So far, 4.5 out of 5, as i have to run Dalvik.
If you really love 4x/empire building games, it's almost certainly worth the cost. I will probably get at least 150 hrs of play time from it, so in the long run it'll cost at most US$0.10 per hour (not bad, imo). I have already sunk about 6 hrs in one day lol.
(If you have never played Civ Rev, though, bewarned that it is a much simpler game than the traditional pc editions, making it a bit easier and faster to play).

Related

How would you review this phone when rooted/custom Rom?

I'm trying to get a phone for my girlfriend. I've been looking at iPhone 3GS but it's hard to get a good deal on one (I'm buying used, no contract). The Aria is the more budget-friendly Android device from AT&T but it's also made by HTC.
So, that being said:
1) How high of an over-clock do you guys get with battery life/daily usage being concerned?
2) How smooth is the OS? I mean like, scrolling, home force closes and multi-tasking.
3) How is gaming on this? Has anyone played PSX4Droid on it or Crusade of Destiny or Hero of Sparta on this device?
Essenar said:
I'm trying to get a phone for my girlfriend. I've been looking at iPhone 3GS but it's hard to get a good deal on one (I'm buying used, no contract). The Aria is the more budget-friendly Android device from AT&T but it's also made by HTC.
So, that being said:
1) How high of an over-clock do you guys get with battery life/daily usage being concerned?
2) How smooth is the OS? I mean like, scrolling, home force closes and multi-tasking.
3) How is gaming on this? Has anyone played PSX4Droid on it or Crusade of Destiny or Hero of Sparta on this device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't overclocked the phone - I don't see a need. Others have done so without a problem. There is a "sweet spot," so to speak - search "SetCPU" on this forum for more information. The Aria battery seems to be an issue, although with smart phones with touch screens, wifi, data, moderate/heavy use, batteries are being asked to do an awful lot these days...
The OS is very smooth (in my opinion) even with the Stock Sense UI, which I really like. The biggest issues with the stock at&t ROM are bloatware and the inability (for now) to move applications to the SD card (to save space on device memory). The scrolling is fast, switching apps works great, and Android Memory Management seems to do an adequate job. I have had the occasional force-close (not too often), but only with bad acting applications. I have CM running now, but when I had the Stock Sense ROM loaded - it was stable as a rock.
I have only played a couple of Sony SNES games using an emulator. They seemed just fine. I'm not a big gamer, so I can't say if the Aria is good for gaming.
The Aria is a great phone -
Great size (not freakishly huge) - fits into a pocket easily
Minimalist design
Excellent OS: stable and speedy. I haven't had it lock up yet - over a month's use.
I narrowed my upgrade choices to two phones:
Palm Pre
Aria
The Pre seemed a bit chunky (a lot thicker) and it was a bit laggy - I touched the e-mail icon and it slowly (albeit elegantly) started the e-mail application. The Pre has a lot to offer - great multi-tasking, hardware keyboard, and very nice screen. The Pre also is a Palm device (WebOS) and can run legacy Palm applications, if that's important to you (it was what originally drew me to that phone - I'm a Palm addict).
The Aria, in contrast, seems to launch applications much more quickly. It's also a much thinner phone, and easier to carry. It multi-tasks, but the switching isn't nearly as refined as the Pre's.
The decision is ultimately up to your girlfriend - Have her check the phones out and decide for herself. She may not be as into messing with the phone's OS as much as you are...Remember - she's the one who will be using it.
1 - generally overclocked at 806 with no issues at all. can't tell a difference in battery drain after a days use oc'd or not oc'd.
2 - a lot of the smoothness depends on the launcher you're using. once you're rooted and running cm6/7, you can choose from any number of launcher (launcherpro, adw, zeam). i recently changed to zeam launcher and have been exceedingly happy with it.
3 - i play a lot of snes games (via gameboid) and notice no poor performance. i recently got dungeon defenders and its running just fine as well. casual games like angry birds and game dev story work great as well.
i would recommend this phone to anyone.
I keep SetCPU set at 864 on demand and I have never had any stability problems and have really only gotten the phone unsettlingly warm when playing games, and due to on-demand scaling my battery life is the same if not better than stock. My only complaint about this phone (perhaps this is an individual case) is that the multitouch in games is terrible. Two player reactor/air hockey, games that require simultameous moving and jumping or shooting are often frustrating because both touches do not register correctly: the phone detects each touch, but continues to register after one finger has been removed. Unfortunately I have confirmed this with multiple sensor viewers and drawing apps, so it does not appear to be app specific. And again, this may be a problem that only my device is experiencing, but its important to keep in mind...
Ive had the Aria for a week or so now. I picked mine up on Ebay as a backup phone as my Nexus1 is out to HTC for repairs. I have CM6 on both my phones, and when OC'd to 806, I really dont notice any difference between the Aria and Nexus' snapdragon in normal operations. Launching any app is faster, and a tiny bit smoother on the Nexus, but the Aria is not that bad.
Im actually really enjoying my Aria, as the smaller form factor is nice. Most phones are getting bigger, but my hope is that HTC packs a snapdragon into one of these little phones.
I've just downloaded the nightly of CM7 and gonna try that out.
This is my first smartphone I got a real deal on like 40 bucks referbished. I've had it for a month and no problems. Its really quick even at normal clocked speed. The only time it ever slowed was when I was using a task killer took that off and its nvr worked better. In my opinion the aria is to small for games on most of the emulators the buttons take up most of the screen and multi touch isn't all that great. In my opinion I'd go with the aria over the iPhone Idk wat apples os is like but android is very promising its almost limitless
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App

[DISCUSS] Xperia Play Hands-on, my mini-review

today i had the opportunity to attend the Xperia Play launch event here in London and managed to have a play with err well the Play! so i thought i might aswell put across my first impressions of it to you guys and any potential buyers!
* take note any reference to the PSP will be based on the PSP phat, not PSP Slim or PSP Go.
first thing i noticed when i saw the phone and held it, its actually not that big or bulky at all, in-fact i think it could do with a 4.2" or 4.3" screen. but the 4" screen and the phone dimensions are pretty well balanced, its really not that big a brick at all.
now the screen. we were indoors, in a very dark area, so i cant vouch for in-direct-daylight viewing but at least indoors; the screen was crisp, sharp and clear. the brightness i thought was absolutely fine, no more or less than any other phone tbh (bar AMOLED!). that said it is no AMOLED screen, it does'nt compare, but it is definitely better than your average LCD screen, by how much? i guess that'll change from person to person.
The performance? i'm going to talk about gaming performance first. hmm this was hit and miss tbh and i will partly blame the Qualcomm/Adreno setup. i never really liked Qualcomm or Adreno chips tbh as i think they are behind the game and have been for some time, this thing could have done with something similar to a hummingbird processor or at the very least chuck in a PowerVR GPU. Asphalt 6 for me was NOT running at 60fps, there was lagg, was'nt huge tbh but it was there and if you're picky (like me) you'll notice it. same goes for the Spider Man HD game that was on the phone, no way was it running at 60fps. again it was'nt bad bad lagg, but if you're used to smooth as honey gaming, you will notice it.
on the other hand i tested Bruce Lee Dragon warrior, which i can say did run very very well and can believe the 60fps quote. also tested fifa 10 and this also worked very well.
now i have to stress, this being a demo phone every Tom, **** and Harry had their mitts onto it so i did check running services after i closed the games and there were a hell of a lot of **** running in the background, heck there were two instances of the music player open! how much of this affected the 60fps performance? i do not know, but i sure hope it did and that was the root of the lowered fps count.
the controls themselves? hmm again, for me, it was a hit and miss but i defo need more time to give a honest review on this part. the controls felt quite a fair bit different to any playstation console controller or PSP controls that i had ever used. the D-pad and X,O,Triangle,and Square have this clicky sound when pressed. guess some people will like this others wont. i found them a bit stiff to use tbh, i can see pulling off a hadouken on this d-pad will be harder than you think. it just did'nt feel the way i thought it should. the control's size seems a little smaller aswell, probably as expected to fit in such a device though. i do hope these controls do "break-in" over time and will allow you to become more fluid in their operation.
The shoulder buttons were better imo, they pressed in easy enough and were responsive. however i had some fidgety moments trying to use the face buttons and shoulder buttons together, although shifting my hand position seemed to help a bit. i guess you just need to get used to it.
And lastly the analogue touch pad thingies. to be honest i was pleasantly surprised by these! they actually work very very well IMO! in fact while i was playing FIFA and spider man HD i actually moved to the analogue touch pads out of preference (probably helped on by the stiff'ish d-pad!) and they worked like a treat! the indentations really help and you dont need to look down at all to see where your thumbs are placed. i was quite impressed by them.
well theres my mini review guys, hope it helps some of you out there to make a decision. IMO if you want a nice smartphone; look elsewhere, the galaxy S II, Motorola Atrix, LG Optimus 2X, etc would probably be much better choices. But if you want a gaming smartphone? i think you cant get better than the Xperia Play, because, come on, lets face it, you cant beat physical controls!
As for me, my Xperia Play arrives tomorrow in the post and i cant wait to chuck on some Emulator madness!
UPDATE: i've recieved my xperia play, for the record you get a 16gb class 2 card with it and they also provide you with a screen protector (not fitted).
Thanks for your review my xperia play hoping arrives tomorrow. Just depends on Royal Mail. I'll post my findings on XDA too.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Thanks for the review my xperia play will hopfully come in today if not tommorow by UPS
Will post my findings about it aswell
Although I think it will be positive to play all my childhood games again
yay! i've just received my xperia play! for the record you get a 16gb class 2 card with it and they also provide you with a screen protector (not fitted).
Can someone confirm whether the screen is plasstic?
I really wanted this phone but having a plastic screen and not glass is a deal breaker for me.
its hard to tell, becuase there seems to be a screen protector already fitted on the screen by default (ignore my previous post! had a closer look). so you cant really tell if its plastic or glass :/
so there is already a screen protector installed? no need to buy one more or evne use the one it comes with??
yh as far as i can tell there seems to be one installed, looks very well done. plus you get a spare one in the box. so alls good.
I got the phone today and ran it thought a few tests.
First of all - Beware! If you're getting the phone from the UK but are not currently in the UK, it seems Playstation Pocket is unavailable in many countries still. I am in Ireland and it's not available for me yet. I contacted support and hope it'll be enabled soon.
Let's get to the performance - Quadrant does around 1600, Linpack around 38. All in all, a little disappointing, it's about as high as the Nexus One gets. I'm pretty sure that's because it's still running a rather early build of the software. Let's see how well it'll perform with Android 2.3.3, I'm sure there's still a lot to improve.
The screen feels solid and nice, it's hard to tell if it's plastic or glass, to be honest. Feels a lot like the screen of the Nexus S. It supports a 4-point-multitouch and it works well. The Notification-LED supports all colors from red to white, the Playstation controls work really nice, but I had troubles with the analog sticks - altho I didn't really need them much. The buttons work awesome for emulators and even quite a lot of normal Android-Games, like Radiant and EVAC HD.
The browser is fast and the flash player works great. All in all, it's quite nice and it got quite some potential. Altho I miss the Notification power widget from the Touchwiz/Cyanogenmod roms
Thanks Meister!
I really want to get a Play and sell my DroidX. Problem is, I'm not sure it would be an actual upgrade. I really want dedicated controls, but benchmark scores are lower than my non-overclocked X. *sigh* what to do, what to do.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Tornlogic said:
Thanks Meister!
I really want to get a Play and sell my DroidX. Problem is, I'm not sure it would be an actual upgrade. I really want dedicated controls, but benchmark scores are lower than my non-overclocked X. *sigh* what to do, what to do.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got it after the Galaxy S and for me, it really was an upgrade. Not on a hardware side, it's still in that Droid 2/X - Galaxy S/G2/DHD Range, but it's still absolutely worth it for the controls. Being able to play Zelda like that with my phone? So freakin' worth it. Aside from that, it looks really sleek and feels great. True, the screen isn't Super Amoled, but it's very good, and true, the Software still feels a little rushed but... Compared to what the Galaxy S shipped with, it's pretty amazing. And when looking back at what we where able to finally make out of the Galaxy S, I think this thing got a great future. Aside from that, the Dual Core phones still seem to be plagued by a lot of issues like battery drain, performance hickups and the like - this one is very consistent and running Zelda in an GBA Emulator for about 30 Minutes drained 3% Battery. Yes, it's not perfect, but it's pretty good, I'd say
holy **** im so on the fence but comments like yours make me want to get it now. stupid rogers not accepting orders yet.
Zub7 said:
its hard to tell, becuase there seems to be a screen protector already fitted on the screen by default (ignore my previous post! had a closer look). so you cant really tell if its plastic or glass :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like the shatter proof skin that se put on the x10, this would suggest that the screen is glass. The x10 screen felt very plasticky to me initially.
The xplay might still be in the running for my monies.
Tornlogic said:
Thanks Meister!
I really want to get a Play and sell my DroidX. Problem is, I'm not sure it would be an actual upgrade. I really want dedicated controls, but benchmark scores are lower than my non-overclocked X. *sigh* what to do, what to do.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BenchMarks don't tell the whole story, this machine is fast when playing action games. using FPSE I get 55- 60 fps sustained on Tekken 2, Tekken 3 & Gran turismo
The quadrant scores are skewed by the IO tests like the stock Galaxy S.
Techdread said:
BenchMarks don't tell the whole story, this machine is fast when playing action games. using FPSE I get 55- 60 fps sustained on Tekken 2, Tekken 3 & Gran turismo
The quadrant scores are skewed by the IO tests like the stock Galaxy S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gran Turismo!?!? Did you say Gran Turismo?!? Dude if that's running smooth and controls are spot on, I'm so getting this phone.
But you're right, benchies, don't tell the whole story. How is web and flash performance? I feel on my X things are a bit sluggish. Scrolling around, its as if I'm seeing 10-15fps.
Also, is the screen readable outside on a sunny day. It is on an X, but you have to strain.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
The screen is perfectly readable in sunlight and flash content as well as websites load, scroll and play very smooth.
Niiice. Thanks so much
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Okay, after two days with playing around with it, some pro and contras.
Pro:
- Great screen! It's vibrant, bright, perfectly readable. The blacks are not as awesome as on Amoled-Displays, naturally, but it looks a lot better than normal TFTs, I'd say it's closest to the iPhone 4's IPS display.
- Great controls! The controls are awesome. It's amazing what a difference it makes to have actual buttons to press, ESPECIALLY in Emulator games. GBA, NES, SNES, Gameboy, PSOne, they all work perfectly with this thing.
- It feels good in the hand - with the game controls slided out or in, it always feels comfortable to hold. The screen is small enough to be used with one hand, but big enough to enjoy movies and games on it.
Contra:
- The software is still a little wonky. Especially the auto-brightness seems to be working only sometimes. Still, you can set the brightness manually, so it's not so bad until it's fixed. Also, the performance is still a little hit or miss sometimes. For example, while the Galaxy S has pretty consistent FPS in Quadrant, it wildly varies on this device - The DNA only has 15 FPS, while the Planets have 59. On the Galaxy S both had about 30. I'm pretty sure that's a software issue as well, tho.
- The internal Memory is quite tiny, especially with the pre-installed games. You can move most apps and games to the SDCard, which is insanely fast, really. I never noticed a difference in the speed to launch a game from SD or internal memory. However, some games, apparently especially Gameloft games, don't allow you to install them on SD Card. Hopefully, with root access, we can uninstall some of the useless apps and games to free up more space.
- The Notification LED is hard to see. It's nice it has one, but it's hard to see when the phone is on the table.
- No Notification power Widget, no Gingerbread Screenoff-Animation. I'm pretty sure those two will come once the sources and Root are released.
Very odd that a lot of reviews are complaining about the screen brightness. I'm inclined to think it's a sporadic software bug associated with the auto-brightness feature, but that might be wishful thinking!
Barguast said:
Very odd that a lot of reviews are complaining about the screen brightness. I'm inclined to think it's a sporadic software bug associated with the auto-brightness feature, but that might be wishful thinking!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't really agree to those reviews. When you manually set the brightness on max, that thing is bright as all hell and perfectly readable even in direct sunlight. So the screen defiantly is able to be very bright. It's just the auto-brightness software that's wonks.

minor gripes

I picked up the iconia on sunday, I have been playing with it for a while now but the battery seems a little weak. I used to have an I pad then an I pad 2 and with similar usage they lasted much longer than this tab. Is this typical? I have renames phone.apk and telephonyprovider.apk and it didnt seem to do much. Is there anything else I can do?
Another issue is the moments of lagm like while i typed this, the letters had an obvious pause while I typed, sometimes on a web page it would just freeze up for a second. Some pages just plain crash the browser.
The last thing that has me on the fence on whether or not I swap this for an I pad 2 is the market not working, the app always has connection errors.
I am a little biased, I loved my ipad2 but it was stolen, this is the replacement, aside from those issues and the weight of the device I like it, and android gives it extra brownie points as well. But can any of those issues be fixed?
Try a different browser
As far as your browser problems go, try downloading and installing Dolphin HD. much more stable and much better features than stock.
My question to you -- Did your tablet update the system to 1.141.07 yet? When mine did last Friday it cured all of my Market crash problems. If not, when it DOES, make sure you rename those telephony apk files back to original before you update or it may crash your tablet.
Also, as with any LI battery, when breaking it in make sure you let it run down until the indicator turns orange before recharging. My tablet has gone from 7-8 hours of fairly consistant use to 10 to 14 hours. Today mine has been on since 9am and still not in the danger zone yet at almost midnight (but getting close now).
As with any battery powered device, what you are doing with it affects battery life too. Watching lots of streaming video and intensive games will run it down faster. Also, check update frequency of apps like mail, facebook, twitter. The more often they update the faster your battery will drain even when it is 'sleeping'.
And don't forget, it is also new to you still, and you are probably using it more right now trying to learn it and just playing around than you actually will on an average day.
Ken - Sent from my A500
Http://everythingiconia.blogspot.com
That is a good point. The update came in when I connected to my wifi, since I got it. I have started using dolphin HD but it is still a little glitch, not as has as stock though.
Unfortunately, the glass has started to come lose for some reason, I really want to like this tablet but its not making it easy for me. I have to return this on no matter what, the loose glass will only get worse. I think I might stick to an I pad for now. Its not so great but it works for me. Maybe the transformer will work a little better.
Also main reason for this is reading and my arm is killing me. This tab has lots of fat.
Why do I have to be such an android fan boy. I really want a honecomb tab, but the I pad form factor is so damn perfect for my hands.
Thank for the input.
If the Apple experience is good for you, then I highly recommend the iPad2. I have one and I am getting ready to sell it (not to you). The iPad2 hardware and build quality are excellent, I just can not stand not being able to fully access my device. I am weird like that. I prefer my A500. For what it is worth, I get excellent battery life out of both, but my A500 sucks down battery like there is no tomorrow when I play movies that can not be hardware accelerated. In all other instances, I get outstanding battery life.
Your choice on where you should go. Either way, have fun.
I am on the fence right now. I really enjoy having this tablet, despite the quirks. My main issue is the weight and how apparently games are laggy. I tried plants vs zombies at it slow down alaot. I also get many fc on every app. I don't want an I pad I just want its stability. I have my eye on the samsung galsxy tab 10.1, time will tell.
I have to wonder what you've done to your device... Mine plays Plants vs Zombies perfectly, I suffer from no slowdowns, have never had a FC from and stock apps (some 3rd party ones do from time to time, but there's no way of telling if it's caused by the app, the OS, or the tablet hardware).
I rooted it once, installed an app that needed some files in /system and then unrooted again because, really, I see no need to stay rooted...

[Q] Some questions about the Xperia Play

So I'm coming off contract on my current phone soon so I've naturally been checking out the market for a new phone. When the Xperia Play launched earlier in the year, to be honest I wasn't that impressed with it, but I've been hearing good things about it lately. Specifically how SE have continued to support it and fix the little bugs and glitches, as well as providing more functionality in the future and OS updates (crossing my fingers for the 4.0 update). However I am a bit cautious because I am totally new to Sony Ericsson phones, and this will also be my first Android phone. I currently own a Samsung Omnia 2 (i8000).
I realise a lot of things could be gleened from reviews, but the problem is all reviews for this phone were written months ago when it was first launched, so seem hardly relevant now after the recent updates SE have been making. What I want to know is, have these updates improved the phone significantly? Is the phone worth it now?
I am a keen gamer, so the physical controls definitely interest me, but I am also after good functionality in the phone too...making calls, how easy the keyboard is to use, music and video playback, how well the GPS works, how good the web browsing experience is, how customisable it is, how good the camera is etc etc - does the phone perform these functions well?
Also of importance is how is stacks up in performance against other high end Android devices (currently the Galaxy S II is the only dual core device on the Australian market) - how many Android apps and games are actually written to support dual core CPU's? How well does it perform in everyday phone operations compare to say the Galaxy S II?
One feature I'm particularly bummed about is the lack of FM Radio...I use the FM Radio in my current Omnia 2 more often than I expected, so I'll definitely miss that if I decide to go for the Play - has anyone written an app that's able to utilise the radio in the Play's snapdragon CPU? It still baffles me that SE elected not to enable the radio especially when touting the thing as a multimedia device, given the hardware is there already. Course I could stream it but that's a waste of data (and battery, compared to using the radio).
Another feature is the lack of internal storage...for a device that's supposed to be about gaming it seems odd that there is basically no internal storage in it, forcing you to use a microSD card. If anyone in Australia has picked up this phone through Telstra, what size (and class) microSD card do they package with the phone? Need to know if I'll be shelling out more money for a nice 32 GB card or something. Is it relatvely easy (without rooting the phone) to move stuff to the SD card or force it to install to the SD card by default?
Lastly, how comfortable is the phone to hold when gaming? I've noticed the PSP go, which has a very similar basic design, can become uncomfortable after a while as the edges of the device kinda dig into your palms, has anyone found this to be a problem with the Play? I couldn't really tell this from the couple of minutes I spent with one in store while it was covered in security tags and attached to a desk with cables.
Thanks for your time...it's a bit of a wall of text so I apologise in advance for that.
my 0.02$
pros: the tons of emulator support and mind you its improving
the fact that we can convert our own psx titles thanks to psxperia
of course the controls tho the joysticks due need a bit of getting used to
honestly think if SE wouldve designed the joysticks like the psp go it wouldve been alot better
the phone overall feels solid not cheap the controls is like a good lapdance on your bday lol
keep in mind it was marketed as a gaming device not a multimedia etc
the camera is great also the front camera is a bit so so
cons:
basically the storage and no hdmi out which wouldve been the icing on the cake
and like really we all know emulators psx games and all the crap we can run is gonna eat up alot of memory mine came with a pre installed 8 gb which is okay but after all the shi you can do with it it does feel small a nice 32 gb pre installed wouldve been nice
also the battery life is horrible due to all the bloatware installed nothing a little rooting magic wont solve
i used to get about a day out of it but now after rooting and removing all the junk
i get about 2 days of heavy usage and gaming before i gotta recharge
yeah the missing radio is a con to some but others are just like ill just get on youtube
"jerrys final thought" lol
the hardware is decent i mean were not gonna run call of duty on it
the overall functionality as a phone is great
but this thing is honestly lacking SOFTWARE "anyone got geohots number"
Anyone else want to give their opinions? I'm trying to get as much information as I can about this phone before I take the plunge.
I was t very pleased with the keyboard, but I installed go launcher ex and all the extras that come with it, and not only does it give some extra look, but it adds some really good features. I noticed that it gets very low on memory, but that may be because I've got 15 startup apparently or so. Haptic feedback could be a bit better, but other than that I don't have many negative views on it. The hardware gaming pad is very nice, but I wasn't ecstatic about the sensor pads. They are a bit irritating and take a while to get used to. The physical buttons are very very nice. I also like the bottom row of buttons (back, home, menu, and search) are also pleasing. Touch screen is very responsive. Also, it comes with like $25 worth of games pre loaded on it XD but I uninstall most of them, because they were unnecessary. If you like monetary at all, you'll have to buy this phone. If I think of anything else, I'll post again.
Sent from my R800x using XDA App
Thanks for the reponses so far.
I'd still like some more though - please post your experiences with the Play both good and bad...ANY information you think might be useful to know.
As said in other threads like this, it all really comes down to how much you play games that needs a dedicated gamepad to be really enjoyable and even playable in some cases.
The phone is pretty much as other Android phones on the market and it's doing the job as a phone pretty good. There's some bugs here and there, but not anything serious. There's a battery drain bug that can be fixed by manual selecting your network instead of auto selecting (only on the newest FW). The UI is fluent and smooth, the hardware build is ok, could be more robust, snappy response, nice screen, good dev going on etc.
It's not that elegant even though they curved it on the back it' still a bit bulky and if you don't play that much it will be a bad plunge to go for the play. It will be a slightly big lump in your pant's for 'just' a phone. It's not a brick like the Nokia N900 but you can feel it and see it in your pocket.
I think i have average sized hands so for me it's comfy to hold the xperia play while playing and do sometimes play games 3 hours strait without any discomfort.
I don't miss the FMradio even though it's been on all my phones since... Well the last, say 8-9 years.
Haven't really encountered any problems with the low internal storage. You can move apps to the sdcard and the dalvik cache aswell to gain more that way.
Bottom line it's a phone to play games on wich is does with bravour and i'm really glad i got it and i'm not missing anything on the phone side nor the whole experience as an android phone.
Just get it mate and start the gaming
Regards Dousan...
In my opinion we should not be so harsh to SE, they made a rather experimental device. Of course they can do better, but not without your money. Also I think sony is holding this thing back because of the ps vita.
Its rather unique that you can never be truly bored when you are carrying this phone. (I think touch screen controlls are 100% crap)
Sent from my R800i using XDA App
I have some input I can share after my 1 week with my 800x(VZW)... I had an EVO for a year and have a Nexus S as well. When I was looking for a new phone I really wanted a keyboard... but after some play time on an Epic and my gf's EVO Shift, I noticed I'm totally over my soft keyboard hatred and didn't need a physical one.. except it helps for gaming. The XP was the most logical choice for me.
I LOVE having solid control over orientation. The d-pad is perfect for fine cursor control without dragging a handle around. The GPU helps it perform as well or better than my EVO/NexusS. I heard complaints that the screen is terrible in the sun, it looks almost exactly as my EVO does, I'd say slightly better due to the factory screen protector. With the latest OTA the auto brightness problem is gone, thankfully! Battery life is similar to underclocked/volted EVO. I love how the Home key is a secondary power button.
Now for the bad stuff! The front cam is grayed out and underwhelming, but it works well enough. Locked bootloader is a burn for me, but honestly I'm having a much better time dealing with it than I thought. Vanilla Android helps a lot, but the bloatware makes managing apps difficult. I've had to let some phone-only apps go, but thems the breaks sometimes!
Overall, I'm very happy with the XP so far, I think you should give it a week or so trial and see how you like it!
---
Edit with some more stuff! GPS has been tight, locks in seconds, and only problem I've had with the controls is that I'm having a tough time with SF Alpha 3, F-D-DF (dragon punch) motion is difficult for me right now. Otherwise it's been butter! I didn't care for the touch pad thingies on Crash Bandicoot, but I prefer d-pad gaming anyway.
Sent from my R800x using XDA App

Nexus 10, is it that bad?

I've been reading for quite awhile because I got myself one (it's still on the way to me, so no hands on yet). I got it mainly because it's a Nexus and I'm done with those 3rd modifications on top of vanilla.
However, I'm getting really mixed comments from all of you guys. Some said it's really nice, some said it's the worst tablet. Although things are always going back to people's own preference but from what I read, 4.2.2 did give lotsa headaches to users mainly because of leaked memory and so.
So users, can you give me your truthful comments from both pros and cons? I can only get the device by next week and after that, it will be my time to list out my very own pros and cons.
Thanks and cheers!
Nexus4 modded with cyanogen.
Yeah, you better cancel your order because some random a holes on the internet did not like something.
Well, the problem is, I can't. Plus, I'm still quite skeptical about the reboots and I have faith that it will be fixed with the update soon.
Are you one of the users?
I'm definitely ok with a bit of problems and it gives me perfect reason to root and tweak it on myself although some do claim that, it should work perfectly fine out of the box.
Nexus4 modded with cyanogen.
I'm running stock and can definitely say that the surfaceflinger memory exists. It becomes obvious when you play multiple videos (streaming or video files). When you do other activities this bug is not readily apparent.
I also from time to time get random WiFi disconnects, which are easily fixed by toggling the WiFi off/on. With that being said I really like my N10 and am using it for more than I expected when I bought it. The display resolution, I/O speed and CPU are all outstanding.
At least the memory leak can be fixed and I read that the surfaceflinger driver developer already has it ready. This gives me hope that Android 4.3 will include the fix. The N10 used as a media consumption device is very good/excellent. I am not disappointed with my purchase.
My laptop at the about same price point (after including N10 accessories) has not been turned on in over three months. All my news reading has move from my desktop PC to the N10. I was surprised at how smooth that transition went.
The only thing that really bothered me about the Nexus 10 is how it could throttle and lower CPU clocks under general usage (general being like playing a game). But then again, the Nexus 4 also does this...
Aside from that though, I find the N10 pretty awesome
The light bleed at the bottom right is the only thing that has bothered me much, but that's because the threads here pointed it out and turned on an OCD switch in me. After almost a month, I had my first two reboots last night, both while watching an hourlong streaming video from a TV network site (using Firefox with Flash). Other than that, couldn't be happier with my N10.
3DSammy said:
I'm running stock and can definitely say that the surfaceflinger memory exists. It becomes obvious when you play multiple videos (streaming or video files). When you do other activities this bug is not readily apparent.
I also from time to time get random WiFi disconnects, which are easily fixed by toggling the WiFi off/on. With that being said I really like my N10 and am using it for more than I expected when I bought it. The display resolution, I/O speed and CPU are all outstanding.
At least the memory leak can be fixed and I read that the surfaceflinger driver developer already has it ready. This gives me hope that Android 4.3 will include the fix. The N10 used as a media consumption device is very good/excellent. I am not disappointed with my purchase.
My laptop at the about same price point (after including N10 accessories) has not been turned on in over three months. All my news reading has move from my desktop PC to the N10. I was surprised at how smooth that transition went.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
espionage724 said:
The only thing that really bothered me about the Nexus 10 is how it could throttle and lower CPU clocks under general usage (general being like playing a game). But then again, the Nexus 4 also does this...
Aside from that though, I find the N10 pretty awesome
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
JasW said:
The light bleed at the bottom right is the only thing that has bothered me much, but that's because the threads here pointed it out and turned on an OCD switch in me. After almost a month, I had my first two reboots last night, both while watching an hourlong streaming video from a TV network site (using Firefox with Flash). Other than that, couldn't be happier with my N10.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's the thing that I always talk about. It's a nexus and all problems will be solved for sure by Google itself. With such a good display as well as the A15 architecture proc, it's really a beast and let alone the pure vanilla android.
People are a little bit over exaggerated about the bug, IMO. We receive the newest version and bugs are bearable with me. At least buyers should be aware of the firmware is always the latest which might be a little big buggy. Few positive comments over here are really making my day.
Another thing that bothered me is available RAM. Google states the tablet has 2GB of RAM, which is true (there is 2GB worth of RAM chips installed on the motherboard technically). Before 4.2.2, about 400MB was reserved specifically for the GPU, which is the largest amount of RAM I've seen on any Android device, so that left 1.6GB usable. Not that bad, and it still rounded to 2GB (most other devices though to be fair take like 200-300MB; but the N10 is driving a pretty beefy resolution)
WIth 4.2.2, the RAM reserved for the GPU doubled to 800-some MB (836?). So now the total RAM that the user can use on their own is 1.2GB. No longer nearly close to 2GB.
I guess nothing can really be done about it now, but I don't understand why there just isn't dedicated memory just for the GPU, or why Google doesn't just advertise how much RAM is actually available to use. This isn't an issue at all on most other devices, since the missing memory is usually a small amount, but when almost half of the advertised RAM is missing and not even user-configurable (most computers with IGPs sharing system memory at least let you specify how much you want to dedicated to it)... I find that pretty shady :/
On the other hand, I don't have any out-of-memory problems though (aside from the surfaceflinger thing), so it doesn't seem to be an "actual" issue.
I haven't really noticed anything wrong with my nexus 10 I think its great and fast. Also 4.3 is going to be released soon which should fix any software related issues and make it even smoother . I don't use my tablet as much as others might so maybe that's why I don't notice anything wrong. I generally use it 2-3 hours a day and the only thing I hat is the charging time which feels like forever and that it has a phablet ui rather than tablet look which wastes a little screen space. What they should do is get rid of notification bar and combine it with Nav bar like other tablets
Sent from my Xperia Play (r800x)
abdel12345 said:
... What they should do is get rid of notification bar and combine it with Nav bar like other tablets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use full!screen and LMT/PIE and get all the screen resolution back (full 2560x1600). full!screen gets rid of both bars and provides a notifications pop-up while LMT/PIE can be configured with all the navigation buttons plus much more. I've been using that combination on rooted stock for months now and would never go back to the waste of space that either bar takes.
I like the clean AOSP browser in fullscreen mode plus thumb controls but it does not always paint properly when used with full!screen (artifacts where the navigation bar used to be). I switched to Ocean browser which is really AOSP with a new UI and that fixed the fullscreen paint issue.
3DSammy said:
Use full!screen and LMT/PIE and get all the screen resolution back (full 2560x1600). full!screen gets rid of both bars and provides a notifications pop-up while LMT/PIE can be configured with all the navigation buttons plus much more. I've been using that combination on rooted stock for months now and would never go back to the waste of space that either bar takes.
I like the clean AOSP browser in fullscreen mode plus thumb controls but it does not always paint properly when used with full!screen (artifacts where the navigation bar used to be). I switched to Ocean browser which is really AOSP with a new UI and that fixed the fullscreen paint issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome thanks a lot man I'll try that out
Sent from my Xperia Play (r800x)
billy_overheat said:
Here's the thing that I always talk about. It's a nexus and all problems will be solved for sure by Google itself. With such a good display as well as the A15 architecture proc, it's really a beast and let alone the pure vanilla android.
People are a little bit over exaggerated about the bug, IMO. We receive the newest version and bugs are bearable with me. At least buyers should be aware of the firmware is always the latest which might be a little big buggy. Few positive comments over here are really making my day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you can deal with random reboots don't worry about it. It really is something that depends on use. Watching YouTube via chrome will exacerbate the reboots. The actual app doesn't seem to eat the memory. However for my use I can't have it rebooting in the middle of a meeting or trying to dial into work so it has become something of a paperweight. I know how to consume the memory and how to avoid it but it will still eventually reboot. If your using it for goof off purposes instead of productivity you'll be fine. Also, please don't be an Android/Google apologist. They've had 6 months to fix the issue. And they don't market it as a device with buggy firmware that will reboot. If they called it Nexus 10 developer edition I'd agree with you.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
billy_overheat said:
So users, can you give me your truthful comments from both pros and cons? I can only get the device by next week and after that, it will be my time to list out my very own pros and cons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pros:
- Highest resolution tablet on the market, nobody else comes close, even latest iPad has 25% less pixels. I had a Thunderbolt display at work last year and loved working with so much screen real-estate, well, this tablet has even more pixels in 10" than that display had in 27".
- First Android device with beefy Cortex A15 CPU, the Exynos 5 Dual, still the only tablet on the market with A15.
- I actually like the build, fairly thin and I like the sticky material on back.
- For $500 for 32 GB, the one I got, you won't find any device with such high-end specs.
- Android 4.2.2 is usually fairly snappy, sometimes I go back and forth between the home screen and the application drawer just to see the snazzy zoom-in/zoom-out animation and how fast it is.
Each one of these comes with drawbacks however.
Cons:
- You want a high resolution, you have to pay for it with power draw. The display consistently accounts for about 60% of battery usage, even though I keep the brightness at about 30% under light and dial it down to the lowest setting in a dark room. The colors are good but a bit washed out, particularly when compared to an iPad. I wish it had a matte display like my Zenbook, as the glossy display does catch reflections, but I'm not sure that's possible for a tablet.
- The Exynos 5 CPU takes more power than it should and runs somewhat hot. Not as hot as the Tegra 3 in my HOX+, but fairly warm.
- I was surprised how heavy 1.3 lbs felt from the first time I held it. The battery in this thing is huge, 9Ah, compared to 2-3 Ah in most current flagship phones, like the One or S4. It probably had to be so big with that power-sucking display and CPU, but it adds weight.
- The build is a bit creaky and sometimes feels like you have to snap particular pieces back into place, probably to be expected at this cheap price.
- Android still has times when it starts lagging and everything you do takes a second or two to register. These slowdowns often come out of the blue and you're never sure what's going on. This is a mobile OS, so prepare to be frustrated when apps are backgrounded and cached data is lost, particularly if you're expecting something closer to desktop performance because of the specs. The known memory leak in 4.2.2 exacerbates this problem.
I'm happy with my Nexus 10, as I enjoy the high resolution and don't use it anywhere as much as my ultrabook. Now that I know about the memory leak, I may start trying to use it for web reading again, which I had to give up on because it was unusable when Chrome would start reloading every page for no reason. Now I know to reboot when that starts happening, so I at least have a workaround till they fix it.
I love the tablet, for the way I use it - which may be considered light use by most here - it is perfect. The memory issue is real there is no doubt about that. But it is also easily avoided. I reboot my N10 with a tasker profile once during the night and that is that. However I game on it very rarely and use it mostly for streaming movies or just browing the web. One reboot each night seems to be enough to not make these issues appear.
Having said that I have none of the other reported issues, no random reboots or whacky Wifi - I turn Wifi off when the tablet is not in use - but I am also running SentinelRom which seems to be ironing out a lot of the smaller issues. With this ROM scrolling for example has become a silky smooth affair.
Battery life is excellent, much better than the boards make it out to be. I rarely use the N10 with brightness above 25% because it is already so bright on that setting there is no need for it. There may be light bleed - hey it's an LCD after all! - but I never notice any the way I use it. The display is gorgeous in every way, shape and form and I really really like the fact that putting it on lowest brightness makes it really dark. This is perfect for using it in bed at night without getting eye cancer.
With the POGO charger the tablet even has decent charging speed.
Regarding build quality I cannot complain at all. My tablet is not creaky in the least. I had a TF101 which was way worse. I mostly use it with a Poetic smart cover and couldn't be happier. The weight is of course noticeable, but then again this is 10 inches of hardware, it will never feel light as a feather.
Still there are some undeniable software issues still present. The memory leak being one, some issues with scrolling (except when using SentinelRom) being another. But I have yet to see the "perfect" android device which so far does not exist. Google still has a lot of work to do.
rxnelson said:
If you can deal with random reboots don't worry about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not getting the random reboots you speak of. Use my tablet 3-4 hours per day, sometimes more, and do not recall having 1 reboot. AOSP browser closures, yes, though with newer versions not as much. Have 2 Nexus 10 tablets, one stock, one sw display itching between SaberMod and Buttered AOKP.
Had both theTF101 and TF700. Went with the ASUS because of it's IPS+ display and SD card slot. 5 weeks after receiving, had to send it in for charging issues..oneof my main problems with the TF101. For the slight amount of money more for the Nexus 10, it is a much better option. Check out Swappa.com-can typically get a slightly used Nexus 10 for a really good price
mpicasso said:
Not getting the random reboots you speak of.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You left out my next sentence. It depends on use. I can duplicate the surfaceflinger issue with eventual reboot on stock CM, buttered AOKP, and rasbean. Obviously we use the tablet differently.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
rxnelson said:
You left out my next sentence. It depends on used. I can duplicate the surfaceflinger issue with eventual reboot on stock CM, buttered AOKP, and rasbean. Obviously we use the tablet differently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also left out the statement that got me to post originally: "However for my use I can't have it rebooting in the middle of a meeting or trying to dial into work so it mass become something of a paperweight." As the OP was curious about the reliability of this tablet, I wanted to offer a different perspective.
As a tablet for business, I use it for surfing (quote obtained from website, along with any needed client info), note taking, power point and excel, E-mail, along with a few other things. In a given day, I may spend 3-4 hours, while in client homes, using my tablet. So yes, we may use these differently, but for any "business" function I have thrown at it, it works fine. I also do not do many video presentations, which may explain why I do not experience the same issues as you.

Categories

Resources