I was hoping for opinions on the MP3 playback quality on the kaiser. I have been using an N95 previously to play Mp3's through headphones but the quality is not as good as a standalone player like my Ipod. Problem is I want to ditch the Ipod and replace it with the a good sounding music smartphone.
Do you think the Kaiser is a good music player, when playing through wired headphones (not interested about the playback through the speaker).
Also what is the media library player like. Is the built in one good enough by itself or do you recomend a better third party app
Thanks for any help!
The ipod is a media player with a phone added on, the kaiser is a phone/pocket pc with media player facilities but given the different emphasis and target users of the two devices I think you can guess the answer. I find the sound thru phones ok but I think you'll be disappointed if you're looking for ipod quality.
I use conduits pocket player on pocket pc's.
patcooke said:
The ipod is a media player with a phone added on, the kaiser is a phone/pocket pc with media player facilities but given the different emphasis and target users of the two devices I think you can guess the answer. I find the sound thru phones ok but I think you'll be disappointed if you're looking for ipod quality.
I use conduits pocket player on pocket pc's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't you mean the iPhone is a media player with a phone added?
Thanks for the feedback. I might wait out for the iphone then in that case.
MP3 playback is top of my want list then followed by the phone. My N95 is just about passable for quality, do you recken the kaiser would be as good as the N95?
Well, Kaiser is not good for MP3 (Music) player. That's all.
If you want to have very good MP3 player, Kaiser is not for you.
meddleuk said:
Thanks for the feedback. I might wait out for the iphone then in that case.
MP3 playback is top of my want list then followed by the phone. My N95 is just about passable for quality, do you recken the kaiser would be as good as the N95?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure, I mean with a wired headset the Kaiser sounds pretty good, the iPhone doesn't do BT headsets I think. The Kaiser just does so much more, the GPS is killer.
If you have the option to wait for the iPhone do it. The iPhone was designed based off of a solid foundation of years and years of iPod history. Although the quality of your music tracks will have a significant impact on the quality of sound, there is no denying that the listening experience as a whole must be taken into account. Listening to music on the iPhone is natural and seamless. Switching between phone calls and choosing select tracks to listen to is fluid. I can't say that with the Kaiser / Tilt. While third party applications may improve the experience, I think transition from music, to phone call, and back to browsing for music to listen to is cumbersome.
When I received my Kaiser, I didn't even think about using it for audio playback. I immediately made plans to pick up an iPod Nano for dedicated playback.
* Battery life has to be taken into consideration as well. My iPhone could go two days without a charge - taking calls, messaging, and listening to music. There is no way I'm going to be sacrificing battery life in order to listen to music on the Kaiser.
It's not a media player first, but it is certainly functional enough for me. Either using an A2DP bluetooth stereo headset, or the included headset, I have no problems using the Kaiser as my primary music device. Just get a 4GB SD card or more and you'll have plenty of space.
The HTC Audio Manager (not sure if this is on the tilt) makes it much easier for navigating available content like you would on an iPod/Phone, though Windows Media Player works fine too.
meddleuk said:
My N95 is just about passable for quality, do you recken the kaiser would be as good as the N95?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you judge that based on the bundled earphone? That earphone may be the cause of 'all' problems. I mean, the iPod's earphone is designed for music, and generally would be better.
And, in the Wizard / Atom side, there are actually people able to tell the difference between an MP3 and AAC.. and this.. flac loseless compression music format, I dont think the sound can be that bad (i.e. you need a fairly good unit to able to hear the difference)
Ref:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=335157
Thanks for the feedback. In answer to your question I have a pair of in ear sennheiser headphones which really show up any MP3 players problems. When trying to play MP3's on my N95 there was always a noticible gap between tracks and a slight hiss in the background which would disappear if you cranked the volume up. The big difference however was the range/clarity which made all my high bitrate MP3's sound as if they were encoded under 100kbs. The built in Mp3 player just seemed cheap as if it was knocked together with very little in the way of tweaks to improve things. The only improvement I could find was to run my MP3's through a third party app oggplay which gained a slight improvement in overall quality. I had learnt to live with this but wanted to make sure I didn't make the same mistake twice with my next phone.
My hearing on the other hand is not good enough to tell the difference between MP3/AAC etc. Often I hear that the Nano for instance has noticible worse playback quality than a standard Ipod but I cannot tell any real difference. But with the N95 it is very noticible.
I am not really asking for IPOD quality, but just a phone that performs better than the N95 otherwise it's not really worth it for me.
listening to music as we speak on the kaiser, sounds fine to me...i'm using some v-moda headphones and i can't really tell any differences from my ipod.
meddleuk said:
...When trying to play MP3's on my N95 there was always a noticible gap between tracks and a slight hiss in the background which would disappear if you cranked the volume up. The big difference however was the range/clarity which made all my high bitrate MP3's sound as if they were encoded under 100kbs. ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that would be what I'm expecting on a phone media player.. due to the low SN ratio and the D2A converter. Probably you ought to ask (i.e. PM) the other guys (link in my post above) regarding how in the world they can differentiate MP3 and AAC/flac. Possibly the audio quality (unlike the camera quality) of these HTC are superb.
I dont understand how an ipod can be considered as a reference (cowon or other competitors did much better devices), but back to WinMobile based smartphones like the Kaiser, the very good news is that you have alternative players available (tcpmp)
I just repacked my iphone after a week, the speakers were good... but phone-wise it's just cannot be called a "phone" (too many features missing)
So I've not tested the kaiser yet, but I have no doubt that audio quality wise it could give good results with a good software like TCPMP...
Think about it : apple's product is love it as-is, or stay away from that.
Have you guys tried LCG Jukebox (they have clients for both N95 and TyTN II),
http://www.lonelycatgames.com/?app=lcgjukebox
I like it's features, download lyrics and album art, internet radio streaming, good equalizer. A bit pricey (19.99 for PPC and 24.99 for Symbian), I wish it was cheaper, but the sound on the TyTN II using a2dp is actually not bad at all.
I actually gave LCG Jukebox a go on the N95 and found that soundwise the quality was a little better than the built in MP3 player but no where near as good as oggplay. The interface however was horrible and not to be recomended and it just seemed cheap looking to me. It was also missing the search by artist/album etc.. which is a must for any media player.
ive been pretty happy with the playback over an A2DP headset from my tilt, in fact i think its better than my ipod (20gb 4th gen), but i do have this to add, all the ipods (at least up through 5th gen) use the same DAC as the 1st gen (how many years old is that again?), you can get much better sound quality out of other devices. due to the similarities, i would think that they have used this DAC in the 6th gen iPods also, the only only exception would the the iPhone/iPod touch, but you would have to find the specs somewhere to make sure
sebbes said:
I dont understand how an ipod can be considered as a reference (cowon or other competitors did much better devices)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Off topic a bit. Like it or not, iPod is here to stay due to favarious reason, where technical reasons play a minor part of it, as not everyone is of an audiophile or technical about the details, else every MP3 will look like a box with great stuff in it (i.e. best selling books aren't always best written, they just sell well). anyway, as of taking it as reference basically means it is easily obtainable, doesn't mean it is the greatest. E.g., I can tell you thing like, "that phone is almost a size of a CD", is better than, "that phone is exactly 5.72cm in length". You can easily get comparisons. Doesn't mean that CD is the best measuring device
With a good set of headphones (I'm using wired Senys as well), and it sounds just fine, equal to the nano with same headphones, and def better than a friends N95 (although I listened to that with Sony phones, and there usually a little too bass orientated).
takedown by owner
40th Floor said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=1551610&postcount=80
mp3, m4a (aac and alac), and wma
It is THE reference against which everything else could be compared, but could never reach (full stop/period...wait, here are a few more pics)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course it's your product, right? I searched and downloaded and watched the wacky (very busy) demo. The product looks excellent and very intuitive. I'm not at all opposed to paying for software and donating, something I do often, but $30 seems steep for an audio player and the reg procedure is something different. I guess the handango burn was tough on you. I mainly use Pocket Gear for my commercial apps, are they OK by you?
Related
Hello,
First things first:
This is my first post here. I live in Brazil, and I work as a software developer. I have always liked technology and gadgets, and I bought my first smartphone a few years ago.
It was a Nokia N-Gage QD. I loved it, because it had a wonderful OS (Symbian S60 1st Edition). But the hardware was quite limited, with a ~100 MHz processor, 16 MB memory, used very slow MMC cards, and the main problem was the screen, which was only 176x208, 4k colors, and very low contrast. Since it was a S60 device it also had no touchscreen. It also didn't have a MP3 player.
About a year ago I decided it was time for an upgrade. A friend of mine bought a Motorola A1200i (also known as Ming). I really loved it when she showed it to me. It is quite a bit smaller than the N-Gage, has a beautiful 320x240 touchscreen, pretty decent specs (312 Mhz Intel processor, 48 Mb memory, MicroSD support), the most beautiful user interface I have ever seen, and lots of built in applications.
But it has some very serious issues, most of them because of the limited Linux OS. Since it's Linux, there are absolutely no commercial applications, the only ones available are distributed freely by Linux fans.
I started looking for a better device, and found the Kaiser. It has pretty much everything I want that my phone doesn't have: a real OS, .Net support (which is my favorite programming platform), Wifi, GPS, 3G.
I read lots and lots of reviews, news and posts about it. I am aware of the driver issues, and I have also read that the battery doesn't last long.
Well, but anyway, some questions I have:
1. Music: I listen to music almost every day on my phone. I also have an original Motorola S9 headset, which I really really like. I will keep it to use with the Kaiser too. My phone has some issues with A2DP. The pitch is a little higher than it should, and sometimes I have to reconnect to get it working. But what I really dislike is that only RealPlayer streams to A2DP devices. All other applications need a wired headset. How good is the Kaiser for music with a Bluetooth headset?
2. Texting/messaging: I also text a lot. Since my phone has no keyboard, I use a virtual one, very similar to the one found on WM. How much faster is the physical keyboard? Some people say the keys are a little hard to press, is that true? And is the keyboard good enough for moderate use or I would be better off with a Bluetooth keyboard?
3. Web: I also like to browse the web on my phone. I use Opera Mini, because I really like its features, and it synchronizes with my desktop Opera, so I can have the same bookmarks. Is Mini also the best choice on Kaiser?
4. Video: This one I wish I could use more, but I don't because the application I use doesn't stream to Bluetooth headsets. But anyway, my phone is pretty decent when it comes to video playing. I can play 320x240 XVid videos at around 25 FPS. Can the Kaiser achieve this kind of performance even without proper drivers? AFAIK WM handles A2DP streams, so in theory any application can use them. Does that mean I can watch videos with my Bluetooth headset?
5. Battery: How much does it last with real life use? I don't mind if it doesn't last very long, as long as it lasts at least a full day with heavy use. My phone lasts for around 2.5 days with light use, and listening to 3 hours of music with Bluetooth make it last a day less. But it's still good, because I only have to charge it at night.
6. Application: And how about developing applications? .Net seems almost too easy to be true. Do I really only have to compile the application on Visual Studio and install it? No 99 step building and deploying process like my old Symbian phone had?
7. Games: I don't play games that much, I don't even have any game installed on my PC, but it can be a good passtime when on the go. On my N-Gage QD I had a few games that were really good, and some emulators. Because of the limited resolution I could only play Gameboy games, but it could also emulate SNES. And there were many games I liked on the SNES. Can the Kaiser run it? How are the controls?
8. File transfer: Does it support PAN protocol, so I can browse the folders on the SD through Bluetooth? Once I saw a friend of mine doing it with a Dell X51 and it's much much better than OBEX.
I guess that's it for now. I looked for guides that would answer my questions, but didn't find any. Is there a FAQ or something?
Any help will be greatly appreciated, and I hope I can retribute if/when I buy a Kaiser myself.
Thanks!
Smaniac said:
Hello,
First things first:
This is my first post here. I live in Brazil, and I work as a software developer. I have always liked technology and gadgets, and I bought my first smartphone a few years ago.
It was a Nokia N-Gage QD. I loved it, because it had a wonderful OS (Symbian S60 1st Edition). But the hardware was quite limited, with a ~100 MHz processor, 16 MB memory, used very slow MMC cards, and the main problem was the screen, which was only 176x208, 4k colors, and very low contrast. Since it was a S60 device it also had no touchscreen. It also didn't have a MP3 player.
About a year ago I decided it was time for an upgrade. A friend of mine bought a Motorola A1200i (also known as Ming). I really loved it when she showed it to me. It is quite a bit smaller than the N-Gage, has a beautiful 320x240 touchscreen, pretty decent specs (312 Mhz Intel processor, 48 Mb memory, MicroSD support), the most beautiful user interface I have ever seen, and lots of built in applications.
But it has some very serious issues, most of them because of the limited Linux OS. Since it's Linux, there are absolutely no commercial applications, the only ones available are distributed freely by Linux fans.
I started looking for a better device, and found the Kaiser. It has pretty much everything I want that my phone doesn't have: a real OS, .Net support (which is my favorite programming platform), Wifi, GPS, 3G.
I read lots and lots of reviews, news and posts about it. I am aware of the driver issues, and I have also read that the battery doesn't last long.
Well, but anyway, some questions I have:
1. Music: I listen to music almost every day on my phone. I also have an original Motorola S9 headset, which I really really like. I will keep it to use with the Kaiser too. My phone has some issues with A2DP. The pitch is a little higher than it should, and sometimes I have to reconnect to get it working. But what I really dislike is that only RealPlayer streams to A2DP devices. All other applications need a wired headset. How good is the Kaiser for music with a Bluetooth headset?
2. Texting/messaging: I also text a lot. Since my phone has no keyboard, I use a virtual one, very similar to the one found on WM. How much faster is the physical keyboard? Some people say the keys are a little hard to press, is that true? And is the keyboard good enough for moderate use or I would be better off with a Bluetooth keyboard?
3. Web: I also like to browse the web on my phone. I use Opera Mini, because I really like its features, and it synchronizes with my desktop Opera, so I can have the same bookmarks. Is Mini also the best choice on Kaiser?
4. Video: This one I wish I could use more, but I don't because the application I use doesn't stream to Bluetooth headsets. But anyway, my phone is pretty decent when it comes to video playing. I can play 320x240 XVid videos at around 25 FPS. Can the Kaiser achieve this kind of performance even without proper drivers? AFAIK WM handles A2DP streams, so in theory any application can use them. Does that mean I can watch videos with my Bluetooth headset?
5. Battery: How much does it last with real life use? I don't mind if it doesn't last very long, as long as it lasts at least a full day with heavy use. My phone lasts for around 2.5 days with light use, and listening to 3 hours of music with Bluetooth make it last a day less. But it's still good, because I only have to charge it at night.
6. Application: And how about developing applications? .Net seems almost too easy to be true. Do I really only have to compile the application on Visual Studio and install it? No 99 step building and deploying process like my old Symbian phone had?
7. Games: I don't play games that much, I don't even have any game installed on my PC, but it can be a good passtime when on the go. On my N-Gage QD I had a few games that were really good, and some emulators. Because of the limited resolution I could only play Gameboy games, but it could also emulate SNES. And there were many games I liked on the SNES. Can the Kaiser run it? How are the controls?
8. File transfer: Does it support PAN protocol, so I can browse the folders on the SD through Bluetooth? Once I saw a friend of mine doing it with a Dell X51 and it's much much better than OBEX.
I guess that's it for now. I looked for guides that would answer my questions, but didn't find any. Is there a FAQ or something?
Any help will be greatly appreciated, and I hope I can retribute if/when I buy a Kaiser myself.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Generally I'm of the opinion that the Kaiser isn't right for very many people, but to answer your questions:
1. If you have a good pair of BT headphones, listening to music on them is simple. This is true on most WM devices.
2. Biggest problem I have is that the spacebar has two sensors (clicks on left and right which you'll probably end up pressing both at once) which is a really stupid design move. On top of that, the Kaiser does not register double presses of a button (i.e. it would have written out that part as "preses of a buton") unless you type very slowly. Some people find various onscreen solutions better, but in general I find the keyboard adequate.
3. Opera Mini is the easiest to use at the moment.
4. No. And yes to your second question.
5. It will not last a day with heavy use.
6. Don't know.
7. Go to Howard Forums and search for a post on emulators by menneisyys.
8. Yes, WM supports PAN protocol.
1. Music works pretty well except for an issue where the sound stops for a fraction of a second every few minutes or so.
2. The keyboard isn't as good as it could be(especially with that weird random lag it sometimes has) but still way better than an onscreen keyboard.
3. I like Opera Mobile, but I'm too cheap to pay for it so I'm using PIE.
4. Coreplayer is supposed to release a version well suited for the Kaiser in a couple of months. It costs money though.
5. Two days in light use in an Edge area. 6 hours in an 'H' area listening to music, using google maps, surfing the internet.
6. Yes compared to other environments, writing on the compact framework is a thing of wonderous joy.
7. I've had alot of problems getting these things usable. They don't seem to be actively developing them much.
8. Don't know.
Overall it's like owning classic corvette and having to use it as a commuter car. You love it but you also can't help but hate it sometimes.
Thank you very much for your help, both of you. You pointed me in the right direction. Now I know I can expect CorePlayer 1.2 to be great. And I don't really mind paying for software, because since I earn money from it I also recognize its value. Besides, $25 will be pretty cheap considering its benefits.
2 things that got me really disappointed though seem to be keyboard and battery. About the keyboard, I will wait for the official release in Brazil next month, so I can test it. But is the battery really that bad? Maybe I can live with it, I can recharge it at work when needed, because it charges by USB from what I have read.
Anyway, I know this phone isn't perfect. There is and will never be any perfect device. But even considering its flaws, it seems to be excellent.
I wish the video driver issue was really solved though. It would make it even more attractive to everyone.
Thank you very much for your time again.
Blowfish64 said:
7. Go to Howard Forums and search for a post on emulators by menneisyys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the promotion
That's no longe rneeded - in the meantime, I've migrated all my Bibles in the local Wiki (it took me SEVERAL days to do so... thousands of articles...)
See http://wiki.xda-developers.com/inde...s - for both games and productivity platforms
Smaniac said:
2 things that got me really disappointed though seem to be keyboard and battery. About the keyboard, I will wait for the official release in Brazil next month, so I can test it. But is the battery really that bad? Maybe I can live with it, I can recharge it at work when needed, because it charges by USB from what I have read.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Disable 3G; then, it'll be a lot better. See my related Bible at http://wiki.xda-developers.com/inde...(GPRS & EDGE) modes to optimize battery life! and http://wiki.xda-developers.com/inde...(auto-)terminate unnecessary data connections
Blowfish64 said:
1. If you have a good pair of BT headphones, listening to music on them is simple. This is true on most WM devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Justa quick warning: the Kaiser uses the A2DP implementation of the MS BT stack. While it's definitely better than that of previous OS'es (WM5 - see http://wiki.xda-developers.com/inde...nes) quality: Light at the End of the Tunnel? for more info on this), it's still worse than decent A2DP implementations like those of Nokia or the dumbphones / media players of Samsung. You won't really notice the difference if you only listen to, say, disco music; with classical / folk / world music, the difference is HUGE.
That is, if you REALLY need A2DP, go for a non-WM device or get an additional, cheap A2DP source; for example the Samsung YP-T9J.
I really recommend ALL the A2DP-related articles at http://wiki.xda-developers.com/inde...for 1. DUN and connectivity issues; 2. gaming for more info.
Blowfish64 said:
Smaniac said:
8. File transfer: Does it support PAN protocol, so I can browse the folders on the SD through Bluetooth? Once I saw a friend of mine doing it with a Dell X51 and it's much much better than OBEX.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
8. Yes, WM supports PAN protocol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OP seems to have confused the File Transfer Profile with PAN. They have nothing to do with each other. BT PAN can be used to transfer files - but FT is much-much better suited for this task. (BTW, PAN isn't really supported, only in server mode - see my related articles.)
Fortunately, the Kaiser, being WM6 (as opposed to earlier OS'es), supports FT - unless your particular rebrander has removed the support.
Smaniac said:
7. Games: I don't play games that much, I don't even have any game installed on my PC, but it can be a good passtime when on the go. On my N-Gage QD I had a few games that were really good, and some emulators. Because of the limited resolution I could only play Gameboy games, but it could also emulate SNES. And there were many games I liked on the SNES. Can the Kaiser run it? How are the controls?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For emulation, currently, it's plain useless. See the emulation-related threads here.
If you want DECENT emulation capabilities, currently, your ONLY choice is the Dell Axim x50v / x51v.
Menneisyys said:
Thanks for the promotion
That's no longe rneeded - in the meantime, I've migrated all my Bibles in the local Wiki (it took me SEVERAL days to do so... thousands of articles...)
See http://wiki.xda-developers.com/inde...s - for both games and productivity platforms
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice articles, one thing that really got me interested was ScummVM. I only knew the desktop version, had no idea there was a WM version.
Menneisyys said:
Disable 3G; then, it'll be a lot better. See my related Bible at http://wiki.xda-developers.com/inde...(GPRS & EDGE) modes to optimize battery life! and http://wiki.xda-developers.com/inde...(auto-)terminate unnecessary data connections
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I won't be using 3G all of the time, so that might be a viable solution. Great to know there is a simple application to do that.
Menneisyys said:
Justa quick warning: the Kaiser uses the A2DP implementation of the MS BT stack. While it's definitely better than that of previous OS'es (WM5 - see http://wiki.xda-developers.com/inde...nes) quality: Light at the End of the Tunnel? for more info on this), it's still worse than decent A2DP implementations like those of Nokia or the dumbphones / media players of Samsung. You won't really notice the difference if you only listen to, say, disco music; with classical / folk / world music, the difference is HUGE.
That is, if you REALLY need A2DP, go for a non-WM device or get an additional, cheap A2DP source; for example the Samsung YP-T9J.
I really recommend ALL the A2DP-related articles at http://wiki.xda-developers.com/inde...for 1. DUN and connectivity issues; 2. gaming for more info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The main reason for me to play music on my phone is that I don't need to carry a whole different device. So buying something else just for music isn't an option. But I'll try it for myself, it will probably be better than my current Linux RealPlayer, which is really bad.
Menneisyys said:
The OP seems to have confused the File Transfer Profile with PAN. They have nothing to do with each other. BT PAN can be used to transfer files - but FT is much-much better suited for this task. (BTW, PAN isn't really supported, only in server mode - see my related articles.)
Fortunately, the Kaiser, being WM6 (as opposed to earlier OS'es), supports FT - unless your particular rebrander has removed the support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, you are right, I meant FT, not PAN. Sorry.
Menneisyys said:
For emulation, currently, it's plain useless. See the emulation-related threads here.
If you want DECENT emulation capabilities, currently, your ONLY choice is the Dell Axim x50v / x51v.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Emulation isn't a must for me, but it would be nice to have.
A friend of mine has a Dell x51v, and I REALLY hate it. I don't mean to offend who has one, but I just see it as a very bulky device with no kind of network connection whatsoever.
Thank you very much for the feedback. I'm starting to really like this community already.
battery isnt that bad, i get a good few hours of music over a2dp, a good few hours browsing time and ive got putty and messenger runing on the thing all the time over gprs - what i find realy kills the battery is how long you have the screen on, if i keep the screen on a lot, ill be down to mid 30%ies after a ful day - if i go a bit lighter ill still have about 50% by the time i goto bed.
the keyboard is ok - the double tap problem does bug me but ive trained myself to avoid it (mostly ) im writing this post on my kaiser, way faster than if i were to use an onscreen keyb but i have nails (and slender fingers) so i guess that makes it easier to hit the keys.
i can play transcoded (down to native 320x240) video just fine at decent fps (dont know exact framerate) - i dont notice any lag or stuttering - though im sure i wont need to transcode in the future when some drivers are released.
cant say about the audio quality over a2dp - ive never had issue with it, i actually think its quite good quality, but the loudspeaker on the back is so loud it does distort the sound quite often even if its set to a low level (sounds like its reverberating or smt)
all in all im happy with my kaiser given its few blemishes
Smaniac said:
The main reason for me to play music on my phone is that I don't need to carry a whole different device. So buying something else just for music isn't an option. But I'll try it for myself, it will probably be better than my current Linux RealPlayer, which is really bad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It all depends on the music genre you listen to - and also the headphones you use. Some are just horrible with the MS BT stack; this is why I'm using a different, non-Microsoft gadget (Nokia N95) as an A2DP source. WAAAY better - there is just no comparison.
Smaniac said:
Emulation isn't a must for me, but it would be nice to have.
A friend of mine has a Dell x51v, and I REALLY hate it. I don't mean to offend who has one, but I just see it as a very bulky device with no kind of network connection whatsoever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It indeed doesn't have a phone ("only" Wi-Fi / BT). However, if you're seriously into gaming / emulation, you will want to consider getting it - in addition to your Kaiser (it's pretty cheap now). The Kaiser is, currently, plain bad at both emulation, the touchscreen tap-and-hold CPU usage issues and the D-pad department.
fusi said:
battery isnt that bad, i get a good few hours of music over a2dp, a good few hours browsing time and ive got putty and messenger runing on the thing all the time over gprs - what i find realy kills the battery is how long you have the screen on, if i keep the screen on a lot, ill be down to mid 30%ies after a ful day - if i go a bit lighter ill still have about 50% by the time i goto bed.
the keyboard is ok - the double tap problem does bug me but ive trained myself to avoid it (mostly ) im writing this post on my kaiser, way faster than if i were to use an onscreen keyb but i have nails (and slender fingers) so i guess that makes it easier to hit the keys.
i can play transcoded (down to native 320x240) video just fine at decent fps (dont know exact framerate) - i dont notice any lag or stuttering - though im sure i wont need to transcode in the future when some drivers are released.
cant say about the audio quality over a2dp - ive never had issue with it, i actually think its quite good quality, but the loudspeaker on the back is so loud it does distort the sound quite often even if its set to a low level (sounds like its reverberating or smt)
all in all im happy with my kaiser given its few blemishes
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As I can see everything is a matter of particular use and taste. Good to know that someone is really happy with it, I hope I will be too. Thanks for the info!
Menneisyys said:
It all depends on the music genre you listen to - and also the headphones you use. Some are just horrible with the MS BT stack; this is why I'm using a different, non-Microsoft gadget (Nokia N95) as an A2DP source. WAAAY better - there is just no comparison.
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Click to collapse
I use a Motorola S9, and I listen to a lot of different stuff (rock, pop, classical, and so on). I have tried it briefly on the Dell x51v and the quality was good, however it seems my friend was using a different BT stack. By the way, is that information correct? He told me MS one didn't support FT protocol, so he installed another one, and now it has it.
Menneisyys said:
It indeed doesn't have a phone ("only" Wi-Fi / BT). However, if you're seriously into gaming / emulation, you will want to consider getting it - in addition to your Kaiser (it's pretty cheap now). The Kaiser is, currently, plain bad at both emulation, the touchscreen tap-and-hold CPU usage issues and the D-pad department.
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I'm not really into it. I don't even play games on my PC. I only play my Nintendo Wii for a few hours a week.
Like I said it would be a nice plus, but not a requirement.
It would be nice if I could play some slow-paced games like Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy 6 though. Is it possible?
Thanks!
Menneisyys said:
The Kaiser is, currently, plain bad at both emulation, the touchscreen tap-and-hold CPU usage issues and the D-pad department.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Menneisyys,
Do you have any reason to believe the Polaris/Cruise will be better at this?
Well its that time of the year. My ATT contract just expired and I'm due for a new phone!
I was wondering about the Kaiser's media playback. I would really like my next phone to have strong video and audio playback.
I was considering the iPhone, but the lack of necessary features turned me off. I know it is great for media, but that phone is just NOT for me.
I would like your comments on the Kaiser's video/audio playback. Also, what 3rd party apps are you using for your video/audio?
Finally, I was wondering if the Kaiser was for me. Should I wait for another phone with good media playback, or should i jump on the Kaiser. I'm really into phone customization (my current phone is modded up the butthole, both software and hardware) and I know just by browsing through this forum that the Kaiser offers plenty of customization.
I have about a week to decide, so no rush. I would like some honest, well written, feedback. THANKS!!
just2good4u3434 said:
Well its that time of the year. My ATT contract just expired and I'm due for a new phone!
I was wondering about the Kaiser's media playback. I would really like my next phone to have strong video and audio playback.
I was considering the iPhone, but the lack of necessary features turned me off. I know it is great for media, but that phone is just NOT for me.
I would like your comments on the Kaiser's video/audio playback. Also, what 3rd party apps are you using for your video/audio?
Finally, I was wondering if the Kaiser was for me. Should I wait for another phone with good media playback, or should i jump on the Kaiser. I'm really into phone customization (my current phone is modded up the butthole, both software and hardware) and I know just by browsing through this forum that the Kaiser offers plenty of customization.
I have about a week to decide, so no rush. I would like some honest, well written, feedback. THANKS!!
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Click to collapse
You mean this as a joke, right ? You want to rub this in ? Have you even read one thread on this board ?
Media playback (both performance and quality) is sub par on the Kaiser. You would probably want to go with another brand all together.
I dont get it...
I can watch whatever the hell I want on my kaiser and its perfectly fine, no lag at all (even on youtube) I almost cant tell the different from my iPod and my Kaiser besides when i poke my kaiser it pauses, and when I poke my iPod, a mac genius comes from nowhere and says 'dont do that'
lol @ tyeo098
video drivers aren't being utilized to its full potential yet because of HTC and their drivers
tyeo098 said:
I dont get it...
I can watch whatever the hell I want on my kaiser and its perfectly fine, no lag at all (even on youtube) I almost cant tell the different from my iPod and my Kaiser besides when i poke my kaiser it pauses, and when I poke my iPod, a mac genius comes from nowhere and says 'dont do that'
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Does it play normal TV shows encoded in XviD without hiccups as well?
The whole point of having a media eccelerating processor for me is that I don't have to worry about reencoding stuff. With the Kaiser I have to in order to maintain smooth playback.
tyeo098 said:
I dont get it...
I can watch whatever the hell I want on my kaiser and its perfectly fine, no lag at all (even on youtube) I almost cant tell the different from my iPod and my Kaiser besides when i poke my kaiser it pauses, and when I poke my iPod, a mac genius comes from nowhere and says 'dont do that'
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Click to collapse
Yes it can play everything fine at low resolutions, if you use for example pocketdivx encoder and downsize something to 320x240 it will play just fine, but the whole point is that it has hardware acceleration capabilities that should allow you to play it without having to re encode and downsize videos. You should be able to play a xvid file over wifi without lagging or having to re-encode. The camera should be a lot faster than it is, even a "free" flip phone's camera is faster, internet explorer needs to be a lot faster with scrolling even with the fix.
The phone isn't bad, but its not on par with other 400mhz devices, does that make sense?
Audio quality is excellent with the TMP media player.
difflvl said:
Yes it can play everything fine at low resolutions, if you use for example pocketdivx encoder and downsize something to 320x240 it will play just fine, but the whole point is that it has hardware acceleration capabilities that should allow you to play it without having to re encode and downsize videos. You should be able to play a xvid file over wifi without lagging or having to re-encode. The camera should be a lot faster than it is, even a "free" flip phone's camera is faster, internet explorer needs to be a lot faster with scrolling even with the fix.
The phone isn't bad, but its not on par with other 400mhz devices, does that make sense?
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Click to collapse
While I disagree with you on some of your points, I definitely agree 100% with the camera portion of what you said. It is ridiculously slow. For me it is nearly useless. I had a Moto Razr (the first one) years ago, which could take an adequate picture. Not beautiful, not 3MP, but usable. I literally can't use the camera on this phone, because it is just TOO slow. If I can make the subject, and myself stay static for 5 hours (which is how long it seems to take after you press the button), then the pics turn out okay. It's the time it takes which make it useless.
With that said, I love my Tilt, and would never trade it, even for 2 iphones
All i know is that I have basically used SUPER and PDivxE to encode everything that left my computer to a device.
So yes, i guess thats just peachy then.
And it plays youtube videos as well. I watched a whole episode of Kenny vs Spenny on youtube (kenny cheated of course), it was the one where they were obese... and who could be that way the longest.
ANYWAYS...
I see no current problem with TCPMP but thats just me, like I said, you SHOULD encode anything that goes on the kaiser, it takes up less space anyways =D
I just Have one question...
On my PSP (I tend to xcompare the two alot) there is a program caleed PiMP Streamer, basically it lets me stream video, audio, pictures, any media off my computers HDD and on to my PSP's screen. Is there anything for the kaiser that can do this?
Peace-
-Tyeo
Hey all,
I currently own an 8525/Hermes and was thinking of upgrading to a Kaiser Tilt.
I mainly use my Hermes for video and music playback (using TCPMP), RSS Feeds, and traditional PDA functions such as calendars/email/contacts....
I am a bit hesitant however due to the video driver issues and GPS-Battery drain issues....
For all you past Hermes owners, in retrospect to your Kaiser purchase, do you recommend upgrading to a Kaiser or just keep the Hermes until HTC or our XDA developers finds solutions to the Kaiser issues?
As always, best regards to all and I do appreciate your advice
Thanks...
In my opinion, my Kaiser crushes my old Hermes...but I'm also the type of person that doesn't care whether we get drivers or not. To me it's faster, cooler and I always use the internal GPS. I also use Newsbreak for my RSS feeds and have no problems.
I agree, I find my Kaiser to be better in every way than my 8525, no regrets whatsoever. I use GPS every day, Slingbox, watch many full length movies, photo viewing with the HTC album are great, streaming radio stations, it's all good.
The only reason I have my Tilt, is because the screen on my hermes broke. If it hadn't, I would defately stuch with my hermes. I loved my hermes. The video playback was twice as good as the Tilt. And the keyboard was a lot nicer and easier to use. I would just wait and see what the driver upgrade brings. IMO
Hi RemE,
Quick question.... do you have to encode/rip your full length movies (assuming you use divx or xvid codecs) to lower video bit rates and resolution to watch videos smoothly on your Kaiser?
What bit rates do you generally use for your videos? (I say generally b/c I'm sure these bit rates varies depending if the movie is an action movies vs non-action movies )
I'm just trying to get a gauge on the video playback performance of the Kaiser as compared to the Hermes
RemE said:
I agree, I find my Kaiser to be better in every way than my 8525, no regrets whatsoever. I use GPS every day, Slingbox, watch many full length movies, photo viewing with the HTC album are great, streaming radio stations, it's all good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've always created my video content as Divx / Xvid at 320 x 240 audio at 96k stereo and a total bitrate between 475-500kb/sec. I've used these settings for hundreds of movies to be played on my Archos players (with 4" screens), iPAQ's (even the 4" VGA hx4700). They play perfectly on all of these plus the Hermes, and now the Kaiser. I've used TCPMP and Core players with great results. These smaller screen players just don't need higher rez content to be very enjoyable to watch on the go.
People can say whatever they like, but my movies look very good and sound great, even better with WOW SRS active. Benchmarks in TCPMP and Core run between 148-204% and I never see stuttering or artifacts.
I know that the video drivers would make the Kaisers better, but right now everything is "just" good enough for everything to work as one would expect. I use this thing all day every day and it's much better all-around than my 8525
There are a bunch of little things I like better about the Kaiser (better camera, stylus, spring-loaded slider, color scheme). But the built-in GPS really puts the it head and shoulders above the Hermes.
The video driver issue isn't a deal breaker for me yet (even if the Kaiser vs. Magician Tom Tom video made me want to cry). I don't really see the point of watching a full length video on my phone. I just hope they get the driver issue fixed by football season... Orb server plus Hermes gave my wife her weekends back last year.
I do think the keyboard on the Hermes was a lot better though. It's probably because they had to cram the GPS components into the phone, but the Kaiser keyboard seems less responsive.
For me, the perfect phone would be the Kaiser with a Hermes keyboard and decent video drivers.
i miss my hermes camera more than anything. it took such great pix
Thanks to all so far for your feedback
I'm sure there are a bunch of Hermes users curious about the Kaiser performance (as of today without the video drivers fixed) compared with the Hermes. There seems to be so many bad posts related to the kaiser (drivers,battery issues,random cracking screens without abusing the phone). Don't get me wrong, the Wizard, Hermes, and now (it would seem) the Kaiser have all been sensitive devices and requires some kind of protective case (I use the aluminum cases for both Wizard & Hermes) unlike the Apple crude phone where apparently, it can be dropped onto a marble floor from 4 ft without cracking the screen. Why couldn't HTC build a sturdier screen?!?!
Anyways, the Hermes is an awesome device but since I currently don't need GPS, I may just stick with the Hermes a bit longer until some tragedy befalls on it.... but then again.... my wife's Wizard is going on the fritz and I may just give her my Hermes and upgrade to a Kaiser... ha ha.... now that would be a poll to post..."How many users gives there spouses/partners their hand me down phones?"
I hope more Kaiser owners vote in this poll.
Thanks again
hollywould said:
The only reason I have my Tilt, is because the screen on my hermes broke. If it hadn't, I would defately stuch with my hermes. I loved my hermes. The video playback was twice as good as the Tilt. And the keyboard was a lot nicer and easier to use. I would just wait and see what the driver upgrade brings. IMO
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now I've tracked my instability issues to pocket plus and low memory i really wish I'd stuck with the hermes. Agree with all of the above really.
joel32137 said:
the Hermes is an awesome device but since I currently don't need GPS, I may just stick with the Hermes
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Click to collapse
Good move. The built in GPS is the killer feature for me, one less device to carry.
I gave my Hermes to my girlfriend as she rarely uses GPS and it does everything the Kaiser does (except GPS) and just as quick.
Greetings:
Over the years I've owned many HTC devices and have always used them as a media player as its main secondary function, usually with CorePlayer as my main software. The one thing I noticed was that when it came to playback, all of my non-Dream phones were relatively quiet (very low noise/artifacts) when it came to music playback.
Ever since I got the G1 (running stock, no mods) I've noticed that there's a huge difference in the audio section-when using the wired adapter, I get lots of noise/artifacts (very noticeable with low playback volume) and I get an incredible amount of GSM chatter (which was rare in my other devices.)
Anyone else noticed this? Any fixes/workarounds? (I'm waiting for the Android port of CorePlayer, maybe that might fix some of the quality issues>)
Audio quality is something that the G1 lacks in my opinion right out of the box, compared to other mobile phones. If you have a rooted mobile though, I would have a look at the Meltus Audio mod (had a look at my signature).
The new V6 version of the audio mod increases audio, clarity and adds a bit of bass
wazmo said:
Greetings:
Over the years I've owned many HTC devices and have always used them as a media player as its main secondary function, usually with CorePlayer as my main software. The one thing I noticed was that when it came to playback, all of my non-Dream phones were relatively quiet (very low noise/artifacts) when it came to music playback.
Ever since I got the G1 (running stock, no mods) I've noticed that there's a huge difference in the audio section-when using the wired adapter, I get lots of noise/artifacts (very noticeable with low playback volume) and I get an incredible amount of GSM chatter (which was rare in my other devices.)
Anyone else noticed this? Any fixes/workarounds? (I'm waiting for the Android port of CorePlayer, maybe that might fix some of the quality issues>)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've noticed it a lot as well. Unfortunately, this has been both out of the box (stock) and rooted with any firmware whatsoever. It's a lot more obvious in my Bose earbuds, since they're noise-canceling, but it's unavoidable all the same.
I haven't tried Meltus's full app yet, just the lite version on the website, but as we speak, I'm on the Market buying it :]. But I've heard it's nothing but amazing, so I would give that a shot too.
Along the same lines, when ripping CDs or converting audio files, what would the ideal bitrate be for use with stock headphones?
The reason I ask is I'm under the impression that if we encode at too high of a bitrate, it will do nothing to increase the sound quality but will suck up more of our limited phone memory (not sdcard space, but useable memory for running apps). Please correct me if I'm wrong about that.
blueheeler said:
Along the same lines, when ripping CDs or converting audio files, what would the ideal bitrate be for use with stock headphones?
The reason I ask is I'm under the impression that if we encode at too high of a bitrate, it will do nothing to increase the sound quality but will suck up more of our limited phone memory (not sdcard space, but useable memory for running apps). Please correct me if I'm wrong about that.
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Click to collapse
I use AAC-HE exclusively on phones-I find that using a 56 kbps conversion does a decent job regardless of the headset.
I have no knowledge of which encoding methods causes the greatest impact to running memory usage.
How many of you use your N1 as a music player? I dropped my ipod at the gym and i think its slowly on its way out.
Would it be worth investing in a 32GB micro SD card for the phone and use it or just stick to ipod's?
Great
zok-star said:
How many of you use your N1 as a music player? I dropped my ipod at the gym and i think its slowly on its way out.
Would it be worth investing in a 32GB micro SD card for the phone and use it or just stick to ipod's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use mine all the time. I have a 16gb. I think $130 for a 32gb is crazy. $30 for a 16gb is smart until prices drop.
I use a custom rom that ups the media volume and a new pair of Sony Headphones and this thing is rocking Pandora and my local library with ease.
I also have the trackball skip mod that skips to the next song by double tapping the trackball when the screen is off.... my sony headphones also have a track control.
I now use my N1 for everything. I take it with me to the gym or when I go out for a jog. I use it to stream internet radio or internally stored music through the bluetooth in my car (and gps).
On a recent road trip my wife wanted to watch a movie on hers so she connected to the cars bluetooth, mounted her N1 and watched the movie with surround sound on the road.
I have a 16gb card now but I think I'll be going to 32gb soon.
The N1 can replace pretty much everything in my opinion.
Enndr said:
I now use my N1 for everything. I take it with me to the gym or when I go out for a jog. I use it to stream internet radio or internally stored music through the bluetooth in my car (and gps).
On a recent road trip my wife wanted to watch a movie on hers so she connected to the cars bluetooth, mounted her N1 and watched the movie with surround sound on the road.
I have a 16gb card now but I think I'll be going to 32gb soon.
The N1 can replace pretty much everything in my opinion.
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Click to collapse
haha thats pretty good!! How long does your battery usually last for? 1.5 days?
Im not totally sure. If I'm at work listening to it or playing with it I have the chance to toss it onto the charger alot. In my car I charge too.
The few times I've forgotten to charge it while at work I get to my car at the end of the day and there is anywhere from 60-75% battery left after listening to music for part/most of the day.
When it comes to video or the screen being on you're not going to last long, on any phone.
My work days are typically 8am-5pm with an hour lunch in there somewhere. The music isnt going constantly because I have work related stuff that I need to pause it for but I've been know to polish off three to four 1 hr+ long podcast a day on rare occasions, lol.
I use my N1 for music, too - I have it syncing with MediaMonkey quite nicely for local music, plus Last.FM and a few other streaming apps.
I only have 2 real complaints about it:
1. No genre support - I listen to my music like I listen to FM radio - by genres. I.e. I'll be like, 'hmm, think i want to listen to some Country music today' as opposed to album or artist. I have all my music tagged with the correct genre, but I have yet to find an Android music player app that reads this particular tag and lets me browse by genre. It's really quite frustrating. The only one I know of is the music player in Sense UI, but I obviously don't have (or really want) that entire UI on my N1.
2. Doesn't sync back ratings or last played/playcount meta - Since I only have an 8GB microSD, I have a few autoplaylists setup in MediaMonkey that are limited in size and populate themselves with music from a specific genre that I haven't listened to in the past 30 days - it's a great way to keep my collection fresh. Unfortunately, syncing these to my phone is pointless because the phone doesn't track that I've listened to them, if that makes sense?
Aside from that, it's great. I connect the thing to everything - I have a pair of Bose in-ear earphones that fit *awesome*, and I just picked up a pair of Plantronics Backbeat 903s that work great, too. I have a 3.5mm audio in on my truck that I use when I'm in the car, too.
the orange bandit said:
I use my N1 for music, too - I have it syncing with MediaMonkey quite nicely for local music, plus Last.FM and a few other streaming apps.
I only have 2 real complaints about it:
1. No genre support - I listen to my music like I listen to FM radio - by genres. I.e. I'll be like, 'hmm, think i want to listen to some Country music today' as opposed to album or artist. I have all my music tagged with the correct genre, but I have yet to find an Android music player app that reads this particular tag and lets me browse by genre. It's really quite frustrating. The only one I know of is the music player in Sense UI, but I obviously don't have (or really want) that entire UI on my N1.
2. Doesn't sync back ratings or last played/playcount meta - Since I only have an 8GB microSD, I have a few autoplaylists setup in MediaMonkey that are limited in size and populate themselves with music from a specific genre that I haven't listened to in the past 30 days - it's a great way to keep my collection fresh. Unfortunately, syncing these to my phone is pointless because the phone doesn't track that I've listened to them, if that makes sense?
Aside from that, it's great. I connect the thing to everything - I have a pair of Bose in-ear earphones that fit *awesome*, and I just picked up a pair of Plantronics Backbeat 903s that work great, too. I have a 3.5mm audio in on my truck that I use when I'm in the car, too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those additions would be awesome to be honest. When you have large libraries of music it can get to be a bit much if you're wanting a specific genre at the time. I usually just shuffle all but it would be nice to have this.
the orange bandit said:
1. No genre support - I listen to my music like I listen to FM radio - by genres. I.e. I'll be like, 'hmm, think i want to listen to some Country music today' as opposed to album or artist. I have all my music tagged with the correct genre, but I have yet to find an Android music player app that reads this particular tag and lets me browse by genre. It's really quite frustrating. The only one I know of is the music player in Sense UI, but I obviously don't have (or really want) that entire UI on my N1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mixzing allows playing by genre and has a free version (with ads) plus a non-free one.
the orange bandit said:
I use my N1 for music, too - I have it syncing with MediaMonkey quite nicely for local music, plus Last.FM and a few other streaming apps.
I only have 2 real complaints about it:
1. No genre support - I listen to my music like I listen to FM radio - by genres. I.e. I'll be like, 'hmm, think i want to listen to some Country music today' as opposed to album or artist. I have all my music tagged with the correct genre, but I have yet to find an Android music player app that reads this particular tag and lets me browse by genre. It's really quite frustrating. The only one I know of is the music player in Sense UI, but I obviously don't have (or really want) that entire UI on my N1.
2. Doesn't sync back ratings or last played/playcount meta - Since I only have an 8GB microSD, I have a few autoplaylists setup in MediaMonkey that are limited in size and populate themselves with music from a specific genre that I haven't listened to in the past 30 days - it's a great way to keep my collection fresh. Unfortunately, syncing these to my phone is pointless because the phone doesn't track that I've listened to them, if that makes sense?
Aside from that, it's great. I connect the thing to everything - I have a pair of Bose in-ear earphones that fit *awesome*, and I just picked up a pair of Plantronics Backbeat 903s that work great, too. I have a 3.5mm audio in on my truck that I use when I'm in the car, too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think you said what you use to play back the music, I'm guessing the built-in media player? Never used it myself... bTunes has a genre browser and you can play from it..
Just wish bTunes didn't insist on looking like an iPhone, stupid quirky fake looking interface..
I sold my ipod because i have a 16gb card but i still get kinda anal because my battery still deosn't last very long and listening to music alot shortens it even more
im playing mp3s on my new win-7 laptop over a bluetooth connection to my phone right now
I love my N1 as a music player. iPods will never give me Pandora at the gym unless the gym itself has wifi. Plus, I won't miss phone calls while I'm working out.
Thanks for the reply guys, appreciate it!
Think i'll save the cash and just get a 32GB card and thrash the phone around.
Can you recommend any good earphones with controls? or stock ears phones just as good?
I use my N1 as a music player a lot...It works great at home or traveling!
If anyone is interesting have a look at Music Mod - http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.piratemedia.musicmod
zok-star said:
If anyone is interesting have a look at Music Mod - http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.piratemedia.musicmod
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
allot of those features are built into the CM6 RC1. The latest nightly adds even some more functions. Like controlling the music with your volume paddle like all the other CMs as well as controlling the music on your lock screen. I love it.
Cause im planning on using a 32Gb SD card, does the N1 handle a lot of music fairly ok? I'll probably be putting on about 3000 songs (this is how much my ipod had)