Database Users

Unity3D and the Adreno 220

There are alot of games, both with 3D and 2D graphics, that work fine with the new chip. Gameloft and Glu Mobile are examples of companies with 3D games that run flawlessly on the E3D and the Sensation.
Any game using the Unity engine on the other hand, constantly freezes. Both game developers and Unity are blaming the firmware and the drivers that HTC has installed. Although I understand that there can definately be problems with the drivers and that the full potential of the MSM8660 is still out in the open, I find it hard to believe that is the sole problem here.
I'm just curious what you guys think. There are multiple threads on both the Android Forums as well as the Unity forums talking about this. If it is a problem with the driver, what is the culprite behind the scenes doing to allow one 3D engine work and another not too?

no one will know. This is the only thing that sucks about phone that dont use nvidia chipset. Nvidia actually helps out developers optimize games for their tegra chipsets, while qualcomm is not that involved, it is up to the developer to use the tools provided by qualcomm and do their own thing, if they are having problems I doubt qualcomm steps out of their way like nvidia to be in sync with developers.
Plus there is a root issue, if there was root may be developers here will be able to impelent latest drivers they could get from qualcomm, just like they did with nvidia tegra based devices.
Unless HTC takes responsibility you and I will be waiting for a wile before the game developers figures out to work out all the kinks.

Ya, time will tell I guess...Hopefully HTC unlocks the bootloader soon.

I hear HTC is developing a site like Tegra Zone
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App

I know that Qualcomm said they were making an appstore similar to the Tegra Zone, I never heard HTC doing anything like that though.

Maybe someone can shed some light on this?

After reading and watching multiple demonstrations of the Ubuntu phone os. I just can't seem to find features that I can't already do on my android. The notifications drawer is pretty neat in that you can pull it down at different places, but other than that, it just seems like a lightly modded android.
Sent from a galaxy far far away.

luc.highwalker said:
After reading and watching multiple demonstrations of the Ubuntu phone os. I just can't seem to find features that I can't already do on my android. The notifications drawer is pretty neat in that you can pull it down at different places, but other than that, it just seems like a lightly modded android.
Sent from a galaxy far far away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think for most users, they may not find value in this yet (until more apps are available and/or cheaper phones come out), but for those familiar with linux it will make a lot of sense.
I have been a linux developer for 3 years now (as a full time job) and I am just imagining all the cool stuff I can do with this device (at home and at work).
For one thing, you will likely be able to develop (native) apps on the phone itself instead of having to have a separate computer to do it. It might even be possible to develop Android apps!
It's basically a PC in your pocket so the apps will not be as limited as Android and iOS apps. There is still software out there that is not available on Android and iOS because those systems are designed for phones and tablets and don't fully support a desktop style interface. The appeal to an Ubuntu phone is that it can function as both, and you can develop software that will be interchangeable as both.

Thanks for your reply.
I'm not a developer (yet) so I can't say much on the subject. But I do know that you can develop apps directly on an Android device. There's even a Linux terminal Window.
I guess I'll just have to wait and see what people can make out of the phone. till then, I'll just stick to my beloved android
Sent from a galaxy far far away.

If you love linux, this *could* be a game changer if it's done right. As BukaKing mentioned, the ability to run native apps on the OS is a huge plus, as you would then be able to make the most of the hardware presented rather than utilising a java engine.
Customisation I am assuming will also be a huge factor - Ubuntu Desktop can be so heavily customised, to function exactly how you want it to, so I am *assuming* that Ubuntu for Phones will be similar. So, just because the OS behaves a particular way on those video's circulating, does not necessarily mean that is how it is destined to remain. Once it's out there in the wild, I would even assume people unhappy with the lack of soft buttons may find them re-appear, as gnome/unity has the ability to create custom panels.
The oportunities I think this OS presents to smartphones is amazing, but in the end it comes down to 2 things for me. Will it be completely open source? If yes, then there could be a bunch of forks/derivitives explode around the webs where teams have customised the OS the way they want it. Developing for it would be far easier, so i'd expect if popularity gets high enough, apps will appear from everywhere. And, implimentation - will it be as easy for a non-linux user to pick up and use, as it will be for a linux user? Hopefully, that answer is yes too.

According to Shuttleworth, it will be 100% opensource! I can't wait till the code is released and we can all play with this. Since it will be using an android kernel and drivers I'm hoping it won't be to hard to compile from source for my phone.

onlychevys said:
According to Shuttleworth, it will be 100% opensource! I can't wait till the code is released and we can all play with this. Since it will be using an android kernel and drivers I'm hoping it won't be to hard to compile from source for my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Helllooo! This what i was waiting for....Open source! so that ports can be made for devices that cant be officially supported by ubuntu. For those who keep saying ubuntu cant on GT-$5660 just STFU! No offense but Samsung said ICS or JB cant fully run properly on gio! and look it runs almost perfectly! So a bit of tweaking ubuntu for my device and we can run this!
Sent from my GT-S5660 using xda premium

batman38102 said:
Helllooo! This what i was waiting for....Open source! so that ports can be made for devices that cant be officially supported by ubuntu. For those who keep saying ubuntu cant on GT-$5660 just STFU! No offense but Samsung said ICS or JB cant fully run properly on gio! and look it runs almost perfectly! So a bit of tweaking ubuntu for my device and we can run this!
Sent from my GT-S5660 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:banghead: :banghead: No.. It won't work on the S5660... Ubuntu phone is not android... Have you ever wrote a program? Compiled software? The binary is compiled using the arm hard float v7 instructions, you will need to recompile the kernel, the OS and every damn app.. the native apps are made with C++ not java ... You may be able to get a running build on a arm v6 like the S5660 but you can't install 3rd party apps from the store or proprietary apps unless the developer thought about that and supports it .. Likely not, they will be natively for arm v7 hf only...
If canonical would have chosen soft float instead of hard float then it would have worked, but it will be freaking slow and laggy..
Getting JB on that device is something else, it and android apps are running of a virtual machine .. That is the good thing about managed code and virtual machines and the reason sun Microsystems invented java in the first place ...
QML and c++ is not running off a virtual machine.. Its 100% native ...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

I'm wondering if native C++ Apps will not only be more efficient than Java on Android but if Ubuntu can take more advantage of multi-core systems than Android does. At least I have heared that Android isn't that optimized for multi-core phones.

jscurtu said:
:banghead: :banghead: No.. It won't work on the S5660... Ubuntu phone is not android... Have you ever wrote a program? Compiled software? The binary is compiled using the arm hard float v7 instructions, you will need to recompile the kernel, the OS and every damn app..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why does it have to be him that has to do that, some one else could do it and provide an image.
the native apps are made with C++ not java ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, who ever heard of making native apps in java!
The Ubuntu Phone OS equivalent to java will be HTML5.
You may be able to get a running build on a arm v6 like the S5660 but you can't install 3rd party apps from the store or proprietary apps unless the developer thought about that and supports it .. Likely not, they will be natively for arm v7 hf only...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You go from saying "No.. it won't work" to saying "You may be able to get a running build", nice!
And what proprietary apps are there right now? The only apps that I have seen are either HTML5 or the one native app (the gallery app) that Canonical made which will be open source and can be rebuilt for any device.
Also this same problem exists for Android native app (android has a lot of them), the developers have to build binaries for the different Android devices. So you can port Android to an x86 device but you will not be able to run a lot of games unless they include binaries that support it. Games built with Unity 3D are native apps, games built on Adobe Flash/Air are native apps. Native apps *can be* more efficient in performance, memory and battery than Java apps. Also C++ in the case of mobile devices is more cross platform than Java, since it can be used on both iOS and Android, and the libraries in Android Java are not available on other platforms with Java.
QML itself is not technically native, it depends on how it is used. QML is a mix of objects/widgets and javascript (similar to HTML5), but native C++ code can access QML objects/widgets through Qt.
But that said, if Canonical doesn't officially support a device I would steer clear of updates. I just spent the weekend trying to update my HP Envy from Ubuntu 10.10 to 12.10 and I had a ton of problems, and while it works now, my USB is disabled for some reason (even though internal USB devices work). This isn't the first time this has happened to me with Ubuntu updates.
I wouldn't worry about it for the Galaxy Nexus since it is an officially supported device, but for devices that are ported too by some one else, I would avoid updates coming from Canonical.

Valve is testing Steam games for Ubuntu so we could be playing some real games on our phones soon.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

getrdy said:
Valve is testing Steam games for Ubuntu so we could be playing some real games on our phones soon.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ARM != x86 .....

blackout23 said:
ARM != x86 .....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about those x86 based phones?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Lesicnik1 said:
What about those x86 based phones?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The smartphone GPU drivers and chips probably don't support OpenGL 3.0 like Steam games require.
Smartphones never had full blown OpenGL only OpenGLES (Embedded System).
Desktop PCs are still waaay more powerful than any smartphone. Any cheap Celeron CPU for 40 bucks will obliterate your Intel Atom powered smartphone.

Is Vulkan API coming to Zenfone 2?

I just heard that Vulkan API is coming to mobile and it is supporting PowerVR chips like the one we have on the phone.
(PowerVR G6430). Some people say on the ZENTALK forum that that's why it takes so much freaking time for Asus to implement Marshmallow as they are busy incorporating the API on the phone.
If this is true just image the gigantic boost it will give to our phones! (just watch on Youtube or search on Google for more information about Vulkan API)

If Vulkan API is implemented at our phone it would be fantastic. Hope Asus will work on the API and make the best for our phone, let's see in a couple of months of so

Too good to be true man, too good to be true.

hi, I'm very interested in everything about vulkan since i could see some videos about it. But my knowledge about api, android and rom's is not that good, so i would thank you if i could get some answers.
1 - Is this implementation of API a work for ASUS or Intel?
2 - Since i saw that PowerVR Rogue has now SDK(i dont know what it is) for Vulkan, Is ANYONE able to make a custom rom that could use Vulkan?
3 - I've heard that Android N will have native support for Vulkan. Does it mean that if i download a custom rom, like a cyanogenmod, for Android N to my Zenfone 2 i will have the benefits of using Vulkan?
4 - Does anyone know if that Galasy S7 that had 135k+ on antutu was using Vulkan? Because my Zenfone 2 is a great phone and only scores 65k, it's scary to thing that a S7 should have more than the double of hardware capacity that my Zenfone has. I thing that should be because of vulkan, but i need to hear it from someone who knows what's talking.
I hope to get answers for this questions. Thank you all.

SSJMatt said:
)Some people say on the ZENTALK forum that that's why it takes so much freaking time for Asus to implement Marshmallow as they are busy incorporating the API on the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, that's not how ASUS usually manages fixes and updates. That would take time and money and we've already spent our money so they have nothing to gain, therefore nothing will happen. Only future customers are a priority for ASUS.
A happy ASUS customer is one with low expectations.

Well, at least It'd give Asus a good excuse for being so late...

Vulkan is something that would need to be implemented at the OS level on Android (mainly the kernel, no idea what other bits Google is including in the rest of the OS). And support for each hardware would need to be provided by the OEM or manufacturers. It MAY be possible for a custom ROM to implement Vulkan support in some fashion in a current version of Android (harder and more "impossible" things have been accomplished) but it's not likely due to too many technical challenges. Besides, it wouldn't happen until after Android N is released and the AOSP code is posted. Only then would someone attempt to backport Vulkan.
I'm not 100% sure, but I do believe that Vulkan support will be a requirement by Google for devices to run Android N. So if Asus does plan on upgrading the phones then they will need to include a kernel for the hardware that supports Vulkan and those drivers would come from Intel. So the chance of the Zenfone supporting Vulkan is 100%, provided Asus upgrades it to N.

SSJMatt said:
I just heard that Vulkan API is coming to mobile and it is supporting PowerVR chips like the one we have on the phone.
(PowerVR G6430). Some people say on the ZENTALK forum that that's why it takes so much freaking time for Asus to implement Marshmallow as they are busy incorporating the API on the phone.
If this is true just image the gigantic boost it will give to our phones! (just watch on Youtube or search on Google for more information about Vulkan API)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So is the VULCAN API present in the M update?

Is Vulkan something like the Mantle for Desktops?
EDIT:
Vulkan Drivers for Nexus Player
Google’s Android Image
As part of the Android N Developer Preview 2 release, Google released an Android N image for the Nexus Player that includes Vulkan drivers. You can find out more about the Android N Developer Preview here and can download the image here. As this image is officially supported by Google, we recommend using it for Vulkan Android development.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://community.imgtec.com/developers/powervr/vulkan/
There is two possibilities:
1- Vulkan added in Android N's mainline code, and CM14 (maybe) will do this too.
2- Vulkan driver will be only in manufacters Android N's source. In this case, will be needed to be backported.
In both possibilites, isnt impossible to do it, even without Asus help. But would be awesome if some official MM give it to us (not in the first version, obviously).

Its GPU manufacturer job to implement vulkan, they provide the drivers to OEM manufacturer implement it on their otas. Nvidia already did that on latest MM update to shield TV and shield tablet.

Pokemon Go

Anyone excited for this game and found out our devices arent supported because of the intel chip?
it sucks...

I'll fix the broken Moto G 2014 to play it.
I tried to run in stock lollipop. Anyone tried it on custom roms?

Dan_Jacques said:
I'll fix the broken Moto G 2014 to play it.
I tried to run in stock lollipop. Anyone tried it on custom roms?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lucky for you.
had no spare phone, play some first gen pokemon will help i guess

Iqballoon said:
lucky for you.
had no spare phone, play some first gen pokemon will help i guess
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i hope they add support for our phones, i wanna be the very best man, otherwise ill have to sell this phone, it's been disappointing me alot.

Starr a petition for the support?

I don't care about MM update... I just want to play Pokémon Go!

I've had a few issues now with the zenfone. I regret buying this after my oneplus died.

cm13 cant play

No f*** way, really I hate Asus now this is the last time I'm buying this crap, paid 400$ with an SD and couple of covers, I should've bought one plus two instead...

Remember guys, if software isn't working, it's the software manufacturer's job to get it fixed. In this case, I'm guessing the developers of the Pokemon game compiled it specifically for non-Intel SoC's... so you would want to send your petition to the Pokemon game developer to also compile Intel libraries.

I was in 2nd phase of the beta test and even then they never took the time to compile for x86 phones. I can't completely blame them either as it seems it's very out of the way to compile for x86 or Intel based phones as well. Another game called Fantasy War Tactics kinda had the same problem recently where they did a few updates that also broke compatibility for x86 so maybe it's not entirely their fault either. In the end we are just gonna have to wait patiently.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

I think they are being lazy since a properly made app would never have issues with x86 compilation

If I had to guess it flagged the anti cheat stuff. Who knows. I'm frustrated with this phone.

Yes let's start the petition now!

Here is a link to a petition that has currently 1,481 supporters.https://www.change.org/p/niantic-pokemon-go-intel-processor?recruiter=369210296&utm_source=petitions_show_components_action_panel_wrapper&utm_medium=copylink

Nowadays a few tablets also use Intel SoC, so I guess more and more people will start complaining and the developers will eventually have to care about compatibility and compiling for x86 platforms. If they want the game to spread, they will have to support as many systems as possible.
I'm not going to regret buying this phone just for one game. This is a smartphone, not a PS4.

The phone runs pretty good regardless of not playing a couple of games.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00TD using XDA-Developers mobile app

but couldn't anyone make believe app somehow that we have another different processor from intel? Sorry for the bad english
---------- Post added at 09:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:46 AM ----------
because even if the petition is accepted, we still have to wait for July 15 or more, and I want to play Pokémon go as soon as possible ahahaha

Why is everyone blaming the phone manufacturer?
This isn't their issue if one or two games/apps don't work as its the app developers responsibility.
Moreover pokemon go isn't supported for windows phones as well, so should we start a petition to ban microsoft?
Very sad to see these kind of posts even after knowing asus is trying its best to provide for timely updates.
Also even if pokemon go comes to support z2 we won't be able to play it for more than 1-1/2 hours in one charge due to our battery life issues.

The regret comes from Intel. Seems they pushed and then mostly abandoned this market. Sigh.

Vulkan API

I was reading an article about Vulkan API and how it is better than OpenGL for the phone.
I really wanted to give it a try. Do we install it via a script.or do we need some programming knowledge to enforce it on our phones.
Can someone help me?

DeepankarS said:
I was reading an article about Vulkan API and how it is better than OpenGL for the phone.
I really wanted to give it a try. Do we install it via a script.or do we need some programming knowledge to enforce it on our phones.
Can someone help me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't.
But you made me interested too...damn you XDA. haha

Gytole said:
I can't.
But you made me interested too...damn you XDA. haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha. There was a heavy debate going around it that how Vulkan can help in enhancing GPU's performance and can literally mimic apple and its GPU capabilities.
And sad enough, I couldn't find anything in our forum.

bro 6T already has vulkan

Apps need to make use of it. Many do, for example Dolphin for Android.

Voyage Maker said:
bro 6T already has vulkan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay. I know it has Vulkan. But how do I get my apps to use it.
Example : PUBGM needs a GFX tool for us to enforce it. But How do I naturally use it without a GFX?

oh i thought pubg was using vulkan by default in our devices
going to use gfx tool now

Vulkan is a Graphics API like OpenGL and DirectX. What this means is that as mentioned apps, games, etc have to be made to take advantage of it. You can't just force it and every app, game, etc will run it. Graphics API's don't work that way.