Database Develop

Audio playback - as good as Ipod?

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?

Is the Kaiser right for me?

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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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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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.
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Click to collapse
Menneisyys,
Do you have any reason to believe the Polaris/Cruise will be better at this?

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
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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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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.

Kimona users?

Is anyone using it? I just heard about it last thursday. I am using the free version because the only services I need to use are Orb and Youtube. It has some connection issues. Has anyone else experienced this?

Do you mean Kinoma? What are you talking about?

http://kinoma.com/player4ex/
http://downloads.kinoma.com/KinomaFreePlayInstaller.cab

Kinoma user
I have the full version, which is awesome. I use it on my mega commute to and from work. The connection issues always seem to happen in the same spots every day. I imagine it has to do with the area you're in. And it's not just youtube or orb. It happens with internet radio and the like.

oscarbum said:
I have the full version, which is awesome. I use it on my mega commute to and from work. The connection issues always seem to happen in the same spots every day. I imagine it has to do with the area you're in. And it's not just youtube or orb. It happens with internet radio and the like.
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What's it like for playing WMV video from storage? I'm looking for a better way than Windows Pocket Media Player as I don't like the screen tearing I get at over 15 fps.

Not trying to bring back such an old thread, but I don't want to start a new one since this is already here.
I've been using Kinoma the past week or so and I absolutely LOVE it. I'm using the free version and my connection is STELLAR. I can stream the 128K streams without any bufferring issues 90% of the time, and I never have any issues with the 96k streams. I'm going to purchase the full version so I can get my old Radio stations back and also get access to Live TV and what-not. There's literally thousands of radio stations on Kinoma. I highly reccomend it.

l3it3r said:
Not trying to bring back such an old thread, but I don't want to start a new one since this is already here.
I've been using Kinoma the past week or so and I absolutely LOVE it. I'm using the free version and my connection is STELLAR. I can stream the 128K streams without any bufferring issues 90% of the time, and I never have any issues with the 96k streams. I'm going to purchase the full version so I can get my old Radio stations back and also get access to Live TV and what-not. There's literally thousands of radio stations on Kinoma. I highly reccomend it.
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Click to collapse
Plus the full version also plays podcasts. No more having to d/l six different media players just to enjoy all your media and online media,
$29.99 is a lot steeper than free, but when you think of what you spent on software for your PC, it is more in line.
I really like also.

Does it utilise the TyTN II's hardware acceleration yet?
I realise that it's pretty good at playing a multitude of media types/sources but does it use the latent graphics acceleration capabilities of the MSM7200 chip in my TyTN II yet? I believe the upcoming Coreplayer 2.0 is planned to do this (even though the current version doesn't). I'm using TCPMP at the moment which limps along with DivX video in the mean time and have no need to play other additional media types.

denco7 said:
Plus the full version also plays podcasts. No more having to d/l six different media players just to enjoy all your media and online media,
$29.99 is a lot steeper than free, but when you think of what you spent on software for your PC, it is more in line.
I really like also.
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They do offer TrialPay. I signed up for a RealNetworks (yuk) trial, and got it for free. Canceled the trial the next day.

ASX Support?
I'm using Freeplay. I checked the Kinoma Blog and it says the either Play or Freeplay can handle .asx playlist. I tried Freeplay and .asx playlist did not. I was presented with an "unsupported format" error. Has anyone gotten .asx playlist to work on Play or Freeplay? I need this feature for MS Voice Command to work with the player. VC produces .asx playlists.

Yeah, I agree, Kinoma Freeplay is amazing. They have ALL the episodes of MacGyver! Suddenly I find myself not doing any homework during my free periods. As for the connection issues, I don't have any problems at school, but I can't really even use it at home because of my bad data connection. And as for the hardware acceleration, i was wondering that myself. The actual program menus are animated and run really smooth, so maybe. Also, no screen tearing. Anyway, those are just my thoughts.
Dave

The screen transitions are nearly perfect. I'm going to purchase the full version tomorrow I think. I'll write up my impressions after I use it for a few days.

have it
I have a full version, I like it a lot and i use it as main player, only thing i dont like is even if u buy the full version you still need a vip subscription to use a lot of services! I dont like buying the same app over and over again

[Q] Video playback in stock internet browser.

Hi i bought my DS7 a while ago and I upgraded it to HC.
And I've noticed that under HC the video playback in internet browser i really choppy it used to be like that on Froyo as well but on HC it's even worse.
Sometimes video just stop for about 5-7 seconds and just skip forward after a while. The sound is fine.
I'm watching a normal quality 360p/480p straight from the webiste.
While I'm using YouTube app everything is fine even in high res videos.
Everything is smooth.
What may cause it ? Any ideas ?
My internet connection is 14Mb/s.
And I always connect via wi-fi cause I've got the wi-fi only model.
I really like that tablet but the choppy video playback is killing me.
And I don't want to sell it just because of that.

What websites are you watching off of?
Flash on android can accelerate some types of video, but not all.
I dont have any issues streaming 480p / h264(avc)+aac to my s7.
I would assume it could take up to 1080i/p if it wasnt for the fact the screen cant display it at all IF the video is in a format that can be accelerated.
Youtube switched over to h264 a while back as the iphones couldnt render vp6(or whatever it was) at all; so all but the oldest, unupdated videos are h264 which is accelerated.
Other websites can use whatever codec their flash video player allows, which potentially means you're watching a video in a codec that isnt accelerated on android = choppy even at low res.

I'm reading lots of websites.
Mostly www.gamezilla.pl, www.ppe.pl, www.gadżetomania.pl, www.ps3site.pl
These are polish websites about games and gadgets.
Could anyone try them on yours DS7 ?
I hate iPad and other 9/10 inch tablets but when I go to the mall and I try one of them with my favourite websites and it's always so super smooth I think more and more about buying one and selling my precious DS7 ...
If it's Android's fault or tegra's 2 then all I can do really is to buy a new tablet ;/

Can you provide a specific example?
I opened a random video and it works fine, it's also 720p
http://gamezilla.komputerswiat.pl/filmy/2011/39/guild-wars-2
Generally if it doesnt work on android it wont work on ios either as android supports more stuff (mainly via flash, non flash is equal)

Bummer ... Maybe I've got to much trash on my device.
I'll try to reset the whole thing to factory settings and I'll try it on fresh and clean setup. If that won't help then I'll look arround for different device I guess.
Thanks for trying anyway

If you can find a working example odds are it wont work on any tablet.
If that's the case only thing you can really do is yell at the website because they're using codecs that arnt favored by any platform (pcs can get-by by brute forcing their way though)

Let me see.
I watched this news today and it was really choppy all 3 YT videos :
http://www.ppe.pl/news-12500-PlayStation_Vita_wyladowalo_w_Japonii.html

Hmm strange, it's slightly choppy if you watch though the miniplayer.
But if you click the youtube button it loads and is completely smooth, so it's not the video itself. There's a possibility it's the miniplayer not behaving.
The youtube site player is a HTML5 one i believe, so it might either be flash or the player itself that's the issue. In this one example i'd say to just watch it though youtube, but that's not applicable on other sites if they're also giving issue.
From what I know if this happened on ios you simply end up with no video at all if it doesnt have the HTML5 version available. Assuming you dont watch it though the youtube app (which would still be recommeneded for both platforms if possible)

The reason i like to watch straight from the webiste is that its much more easy, less taping etc.
Just one tap and after watching I can carry on reading the news.
Thanks for help.

Have you tried Dolphin Hd browser. I stopped using the stock ds7 browser for the same reason
Sent from my Dell Streak 7 using xda premium