Is the Kaiser right for me? - Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III General

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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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?

Related

How is the Media Playback?

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!!
Click to expand...
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'
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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'
Click to expand...
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?
Click to expand...
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

In Retrospect... Upgrade Hermes to Kaiser or just keep the Hermes?

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
Click to expand...
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.

HTC Kaiser for control of a UAV

I'm planning to build an RC heli UAV, with a control and video uplink through 3G network, based on either stripped down Kaiser, or Eten Glofiish x800. I would need software that would allow Kaiser to receive commands via the internet and transform them into commands for the control surfaces of the Heli, probably via the USB port on the phone. Being able to tap into the raw data from the GPS chip on the phone would also be nice. Can someone with some tinkering experience advise me if this is feasible? Thanks.
try some BT to serial adapter and connect the controls to that serial port.
Should be way easier then using usb.
Great idea. My concern with that is adding another wireless link creates more latency and another potential point of failure. But lacking a viable USB solution, this is worth trying.
avernix said:
I'm planning to build an RC heli UAV, with a control and video uplink through 3G network, based on either stripped down Kaiser, or Eten Glofiish x800. I would need software that would allow Kaiser to receive commands via the internet and transform them into commands for the control surfaces of the Heli, probably via the USB port on the phone. Being able to tap into the raw data from the GPS chip on the phone would also be nice. Can someone with some tinkering experience advise me if this is feasible? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I understand it you are going to try and use the Kaiser as a remote control for a remote control helicopter? Can I come and watch the crash?
The lag time in response is going to be so large you will not be able to control the heli - you need instantaneous response that you will get with RADIO control/RF - internet and no joystick will kill the copter.
IMHO
Bill
No Bill,
I want to use Kaiser as the brains of the heli. Kaiser already has 2 built in cameras, GPS chip, status lights (for switching various components), 3G network (serving as a video and control conduit), a powerful CPU for basic video compression and autonomous logic, memory for hi-res photo storage, All of this is packed in the weight of a few dozen grams (once you strip case, screen, and keyboard), makes it a perfect platform to build a heli on.
The main issue as you correctly point out is latency. On ATT 3G network it's b/w 100 and 200 ms. This seems to be sufficient to control a remote craft, but I havent tested it, provided there is virtually no delay in other aspects of delivering commands to the controls.
Microsoft Robotics Studio is probably the best place to start...but I think that latency will become an issue. http://www.wimobot.com/
skyegalen said:
snip...but I think that latency will become an issue. http://www.wimobot.com/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can state catogorically - that no matter how much I love this phone and the current ROM - there are ALWAYS some "pauses" when you are using the internet - where "something" chokes and pukes.
When you are flying a remote control even a 1 second hiccup can be fatal to your craft.
I concur - I believe that latency will be the issue to overcome.
Bill
wouldn't there be a way to just add a program with no gui front in to run it. The video and everything lags it. I'm sure you could do something you have to remote into to adjust.. super simple.
I only picked Kaiser because it has 3G, 2 cameras, and GPS chip. If you can suggest an alternative HTC phone, I'd be glad to hear it (no x7500 please). Don't forget though, that the phone will not be used to render graphics on screen, which, as I think, is its main bottleneck due to missing graphics drivers. Also, it will only run programs necessary for aircraft operation, and none of the bloat that most people's phones are loaded with.
Thanks for the Wimobot link. It's very useful.
I heard the iphone 3g can get er done.
http://gizmodo.com/5016947/berkeley-group-uses-iphone-to-control-uav-squadron
Nah, they use it to control the craft. It's surprising that it has even made news. I guess its all due to the iPhone hype. If they had made iPhone the brains of their UAVs, that would be a story then.
That would work well witht that phone, from what I understand it has something inside of it to tell it when it's level and upside down.
I think what he wants is real time operation of an aircraft. That iPhone story seems to say that the iPhone was used to send coordinates to the aircraft and they aircraft did the thinking.
Are you planning on having the phone inside of the heli or using the phone to talk to the heli? I've worked with many WM 6.0 phones and ALL of them seem to go slow. What is needed is a faster processor like the Diamond or Pro will have.
iPhone has a set of built in accelorometers. Unfortunately, I think they are not sensitive enough to use them to stabilize a heli, but I have to look into that.
Yes, they used iPhone to send directions to the UAVs, which can be done with any cell phone via text messaging or EDGE, or wireless, or Bluetooth, or voice-modem, frankly, making anything that has iPhone in it a news item is getting ridiculous.
Diamond and Pro are rather on the expensive side. From my experience with Wizard and Wing, the hardware specs are not bad, it seems the bottleneck is graphics and running many applications in parallel. In my case, it would only be video transmission through a service like Qik, AI for autopilot, and commands sent to that AI through 3G or as a fallback, SMS. While it sounds resource-intensive, people have made homebrew autopilots for their planes using 8Mhz cpus.
My main concern is how to get the AI autopilot soft running on the smartphone to interface with motor and servos. So the main issue is getting a low level USB driver that would allow in/out via USB, but in analog fashion.
I would suggest making your own computer for it.
http://www.logicsupply.com/categories/mainboards/pico_itx
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-ph...AT&T+USBConnect+881+(Refurb)&q_sku=sku1230011
Then use a thumb or sd drive with
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
Chumley,
Those things together weigh 3 times more than stripped Kaiser, and thats not counting increased power consumption.
I ended up getting a RC heli for xmas. A nice fancy one at that. Now I'm too scared to fly it and need to drop it on ebay.

Wii Remote controlls Tilt

Hey guys, so it just occured to me today, Wii Remote is Bluetooth... Tilt is Bluetooth... you do the math. To me this sounds like a realy good idea but I have not been able to find any thing usefull to make it work once I connect the two, can anyone help me out?
It's been talked over and over, but nobody got anywhere. I personally posted a thread on it a while back but nobody seems to have made any progress since nobody really seems serious about it. The idea itself is very nice however.
It's been done on PC, so yes it's of course possible. But that would be a load of work to port it on WM, and frankly what would you control with a Wiimote on a PPC? Play one day with it to wow your friends and that's it? Not really worth the time and effort...
Well, there's a few obvious drawbacks.
1. No practical IR sensor solution, so pointer's out of the question.
2. The wii-mote's about as big as the phone.
3. Drivers would need to be developed.
However, you'd be able to do the following.
1. Map the buttons to do whatever you want.
2. Play audio through the wiimote(if you so wanted).
3. Have one-touch program launching capabilities without grabbing your phone.
If you ask me, somebody should do it just for the sheer geekiness of it.
And also eventually a PS3 Bluetooth remote too.
There is a posibillity to get this work with few effort. It's a .NET Library which also should work on WM-Phones! Found it on Wiibrew.org or something like that...
would make it awesome for playing games you could play all the snes and megadrive games and it would be sooper cool! and easy to say the least!
not possible.
Wii remote has built in accelerometer.
you can however use the Wii remote as a G-Meter for you car when you hook it up to your laptop.
Elisha said:
not possible.
Wii remote has built in accelerometer.
you can however use the Wii remote as a G-Meter for you car when you hook it up to your laptop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's besides the point; we're wanting just to use it as bt game controller for playing stuff like Mario which afaik doesn't require any accelerometer.
@ kilrah, i would have to disagree with that. It'd be a whole lot of fun using since the bt game pads that are made for PPCs are so lame; i'd be playing on my device a whole lot more if i could use the wiimote.
silversonic1 said:
However, you'd be able to do the following.
1. Map the buttons to do whatever you want.
2. Play audio through the wiimote(if you so wanted).
3. Have one-touch program launching capabilities without grabbing your phone.
If you ask me, somebody should do it just for the sheer geekiness of it.
And also eventually a PS3 Bluetooth remote too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. You already have a large assortment of buttons accessible to program directly on the phone. If you need more buttons than your kaiser has, then just open the keyboard!
2. The wii remote audio is no better sounding than the audio built into the kaiser. Besides, just use your Kaiser to control your audio center on your computer!
3. What will you launch remotely on the phone that you will be able to see from a distance anyway? Seems to me that you would need the phone nearby in order to see what you are controlling anyway.
Total waste of time because there are NO benefits. Just more batteries to charge. No offense for picking on you but I agree with the previous poster. There is no beneficial purpose for trying to use a wii on a kaiser.
Reason for posting
I started this thread cuz i am running NES and GBA games on my TyTAN II and I would love to be able to play using the wii mote. I have been looking into it myself but to be honest I have about as much programming skill as a wet sponge.
Amorphous86 said:
I started this thread cuz i am running NES and GBA games on my TyTAN II and I would love to be able to play using the wii mote. I have been looking into it myself but to be honest I have about as much programming skill as a wet sponge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive used several bluetooth keyboards that had way too much lag to try to play a game using the directional controls. I somehow doubt that a Wii remote would respond much faster . . . . . . .
Not to be a spoil sport. Hell AFAIK someone has already made the BT on the kaiser responsive enough to use . . . . .
pyraxiate said:
1. You already have a large assortment of buttons accessible to program directly on the phone. If you need more buttons than your kaiser has, then just open the keyboard!
2. The wii remote audio is no better sounding than the audio built into the kaiser. Besides, just use your Kaiser to control your audio center on your computer!
3. What will you launch remotely on the phone that you will be able to see from a distance anyway? Seems to me that you would need the phone nearby in order to see what you are controlling anyway.
Total waste of time because there are NO benefits. Just more batteries to charge. No offense for picking on you but I agree with the previous poster. There is no beneficial purpose for trying to use a wii on a kaiser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I beg to differ; if you came from an 8525 to the Tilt, you'll see that the button placement for games is less practical. For the 8525, you could at least have your hands separated at length of the phone so that not everything was crunched; the same can not be said for the Tilt.
How cool would it be to have your Tilt tilted on the desk and you playing a few feet away? Pretty nice imo. To you there might be no benefits, to some of us, it opens a whole new world of gaming
kareem9nba said:
I beg to differ; if you came from an 8525 to the Tilt, you'll see that the button placement for games is less practical. For the 8525, you could at least have your hands separated at length of the phone so that not everything was crunched; the same can not be said for the Tilt.
How cool would it be to have your Tilt tilted on the desk and you playing a few feet away? Pretty nice imo. To you there might be no benefits, to some of us, it opens a whole new world of gaming
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Admittedly, however you will have to overcome the lag issue . . . . .
What lag issue?
Look 3 posts up
I have had 3 different kaisers and 3 different bluetooth keyboards. Ive tried playing many a game using directional controls on the keyboards and in all 6 combinations , there was too much time between the time i hit the key and the command was interpreted by the kaiser. IE, Controlling Mario in Super Mario brothers using NES emu, if i use the keyboard on the kaiser, mario controlled just fine. When using a bluetooth device mario took approx .5 seconds to start moving after pressing the keys. Thusly, he stopped .5 seconds after the key was depressed or jumped .5 seconds too late.
THIS is the lag i was referring to. I can ONLY assume its because of the lag / latency between a bluetooth device and the bluetooth radio in the kaiser.
ALSO, I tested this with multiple roms and radios, including changing the BT related registry settings.
**EDIT**
This lag may not cause an issue playing puzzle games like tetris ( until you get to the upper levels where reaction time really matters )
Hi I found the link: http://www.codeplex.com/WiiMoB/
hmm, there is such a Program for symbian and nokia n95 etc.
why should it not work on kaiser ???

Dumb newbie question - should I upgrade?

Okay I read, well skimmed the FAQ, thanks to the authors.
I am about to buy a used SPV M2000 ORANGE with sat nav software.
I already have an Orange pays as you go phone and am happy with Orange.
Is there any point in me upgrading the SPV to the latest ROM software etc. or is this really just for enthusiasts who want to tinker (nothing wrong with tinkering if that's your thing).
I really just need a decent phone, sat nav, (important) mp3 player. Dont watch utube or play games, take the odd photo.
Thanks for taking the time to read/reply.
hi and welcome to the forum.
interesting question you have there.
well, upgrading to the latest roms has pros and cons.
pro:
+ nice look
+ latest software can be installed
+ nice ui (many things are easier now)
+ finger friendly
+ new features like a2dp...
+ envy factor
+ stable
+ no loss of data if battery empty
con:
- not as fast as wm2003
- maybe not available in your native language.
- keeping up with latest builds and reading this forum can be addictive
if you hadn't had a blueangel before, you should definetely upgrade it, the minute you unwrap it. then you don't see the slight drop of speed and responsivity. also, while sat nav and mp3 are not even the tip of the iceberg of what the device is capable of, it seems, both those uses are for on the road, meaning you probably don't have time to fumble around with the stylus all the time (pro upgrading).
depending on what sat nav software you plan on using, you will most certainly be able to use a newer version with a newer operating system. bluetooth gps receivers are more compatible with wm6 than before, also the pairing and setting up is easier.
for mp3, im wm2003 you basicly have 2 options: the integrated windows media player (it sucks btw.) or TCPMP. in wm6 you can pick literally from hundreds, which one fits your needs best. S2P is nice for dashboard music playing, TCPMP is better for in pocket playing, because it can be operated using the side buttons. also, as mentioned before, the newer builds offer a2dp, bluetooth stereo output.
let me just describe a short situation here:
stereo bluetooth handsfree
phone (in my case it was the UNI)
bluetooth gps
the phone can connect to both bluetooth devices at once, you can listen to the sat nav commands through your handsfree, while, when it does not talk, listening to music, wireless and if a call comes in, you can still answer it.
this is only possible with a cooked rom, because of a2dp, extreme multitasking , new apps that wouldn't work with wm2003.
one last thing, if i'm getting that right, you are planning on upgrading once and staying with that os. while the newer builds are stable and fast, there is always room for improvements, the development never stops and so there will always be even newer builds coming out, that have more features, are easier to use, faster and have longer battery life. that's why i said this is addictive.
regards
Chef_Tony
Thanks, for reply, I will give upgrade a go.
Hopefully not too complex, I am used to flashing the rom on my satellite box, - easy.
Fingers crossed.
it's a little more complicated than that, especially when done for the first time. but all steps are logical and need to be done just once, then you are good to go, and every possible following upgrade will be a piece of cake, a few simple steps. have a look at the tutorial linked in my signature. it is constantly updated after user input and i believe that makes it pretty clear and understandable. also, you will find all the software needed for the procedure. if something is unclear, please report it to me and either i can add more instructions to the tutorial or explain, what it means.
From my opinion,its not good to go for old one.
i always prefer to buy a new one.
And for upgrade question,it is always possible to get it.
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