Database Develop

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
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?

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.

Limitations on Garmin Street Pilot in WP8

Well,
First of all, I know, there is a threat of Garmin and WP7, but I have to know if actually in Windows phone 8, with nokia 820 there is a way to install custom maps in Street pilot…
I have a Samsung i9300 running a cmd10.1 v4.2.2 and the maps for Uruguay are in img format or nm2.
How there isn´t a navigator for android with support to .img maps; and the nm2 (navitel) is incompatible with Android 4.2.2, because the versions more old since 3.5 (more old supported) and 5.1.2 (the last support for nm2) freeze with Android 4.2.2. and the versions after the Navitel v7 work well but the nm2 files don´t work, is invisible for navigation (Only the maps in nm3 or 7 are supported)… I thincking to sell my phone and by a Nokia 820 or 925 but I have to know if I can put the Maps from Uruguay created by MAPEAR in the windows phone…
There is a way? I can root the Nokia phone and install some explorer to copy the maps???
Thanks for some support here…

Calen77 said:
Well,
First of all, I know, there is a threat of Garmin and WP7, but I have to know if actually in Windows phone 8, with nokia 820 there is a way to install custom maps in Street pilot…
I have a Samsung i9300 running a cmd10.1 v4.2.2 and the maps for Uruguay are in img format or nm2.
How there isn´t a navigator for android with support to .img maps; and the nm2 (navitel) is incompatible with Android 4.2.2, because the versions more old since 3.5 (more old supported) and 5.1.2 (the last support for nm2) freeze with Android 4.2.2. and the versions after the Navitel v7 work well but the nm2 files don´t work, is invisible for navigation (Only the maps in nm3 or 7 are supported)… I thincking to sell my phone and by a Nokia 820 or 925 but I have to know if I can put the Maps from Uruguay created by MAPEAR in the windows phone…
There is a way? I can root the Nokia phone and install some explorer to copy the maps???
Thanks for some support here…
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nokia phones have free access to nokia drive, which is probably the best navigation software you can get for free. So far, it hasn't let me down. It even knows all the streets in my village hidden between hills.

mcosmin222 said:
Nokia phones have free access to nokia drive, which is probably the best navigation software you can get for free. So far, it hasn't let me down. It even knows all the streets in my village hidden between hills.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the answer.
I know how the Nokia drive is good, I always have Nokia phone before the i9300 ...
The only problem that is Uruguay is a small and simple country, all the softwares have maps for others country but for us...and for south america nothing is so good like the MAPEAR maps.
And i always use my phone like a GPS to make maps for all the people who works in the farm...
I use a simples software to make waypoints in gpx format and after it, in home, i open the garmin mapsource in my PC and build new trackz with that points.
With nokia i can transferência that waypoints ?
All that thing that Nokia phones are closed and lock is true ? No file manager ???
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

Calen77 said:
Thanks for the answer.
I know how the Nokia drive is good, I always have Nokia phone before the i9300 ...
The only problem that is Uruguay is a small and simple country, all the softwares have maps for others country but for us...and for south america nothing is so good like the MAPEAR maps.
And i always use my phone like a GPS to make maps for all the people who works in the farm...
I use a simples software to make waypoints in gpx format and after it, in home, i open the garmin mapsource in my PC and build new trackz with that points.
With nokia i can transferência that waypoints ?
All that thing that Nokia phones are closed and lock is true ? No file manager ???
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am pretty sure nokia drive has everything you will ever need, regardless of country.
I do not believe you can import the waypoints into it. Even if the file access was exposed, you wouldn't have been able to modify the files yourself, because the app will notice you tampered with the files and will ask for reinstall.

Hummmm...
In really there are many time that I want to by a Nokia phone, I just waiting a phone with a good procesor, 2 g of ram and a SD card slot...
But returning in the threat, I want export the waypoints for my PC and in my computer i'm going to build the maps.
With the garmin mobile xt I can do it, but with Windows 8 I don't know. If I can export the way points I'm happy.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

Not a lot of point to 2GB of RAM on WP8; very few apps use even a large portion of the available RAM on 1GB models, and apps are generally not allowed to run in the background.
I'm rapidly becoming disenchanted with Here Drive. It does the job most of the time, but it has some serious flaws too:
Its ETAs are significantly less accurate than the WP7 built-in navigation was. I suspect this is because it's not actually very good at traffic knowledge.
It really isn't very good at traffic. In fact, the built-in Bing Maps app in WP8 is still better about routing around heavy traffic than Here Drive is, even if you launch Here Drive from Bing Maps.
It is absolutely terrible about road closures. I regularly get directed down roads that have been closed for months (which Bing maps knows about, incidentally), or get directed to go the wrong way down a one-way expressway that switches directions every day on a schedule. Bing maps (and WP7) were much better about this. These is *not* some obscure city, either; in fact, I'm less than 20 miles from Microsoft headquarters.
It has once completely frozen my phone (while navigating, when I lost cellular reception in a mountain valley). Tapping the Power button didn't even turn the screen off; I had to hold it down (or pull the battery, which isn't practical on all phone models) and hard-reboot. That shouldn't even be *possible*, of course, so the OS takes some **** for that too...
It doesn't send turn directions over Bluetooth headset profile (only A2DP/"Music" profile) the way that WP7 would.
It doesn't pause music playback when speaking directions the way wp7 would; it just mutes the music temporarily.
If the music is paused, and the phone is on Bluetooth (both music and headset profiles), it will resume music playback after speaking the directions (admittedly, this might be the fault of the Bluetooth in this particular car).
It won't/can't keep the screen turned on when navigating on battery; I get that it drains the battery faster (although the GPS does that quite well already) but I like to be able to see directions at a glance.
It doesn't display the full list of directions once you start navigating (at least, I haven't found a way to make it do so).
It will send you down obscure, tiny, alley-like, residential, or meandering country roads, even if the (slightly longer route on the traffic-free) highway would be much faster, because it doesn't know what the speed limit on those streets is and therefore can't tell that it's substantially slower than taking the slightly longer route (and yes, I have it set to "fastest" not "shortest").
It has no lane assistance at all (neither did WP7, but other apps and devices do, and it would be very handy).

GoodDayToDie said:
Not a lot of point to 2GB of RAM on WP8; very few apps use even a large portion of the available RAM on 1GB models, and apps are generally not allowed to run in the background.
I'm rapidly becoming disenchanted with Here Drive. It does the job most of the time, but it has some serious flaws too:
Its ETAs are significantly less accurate than the WP7 built-in navigation was. I suspect this is because it's not actually very good at traffic knowledge.
It really isn't very good at traffic. In fact, the built-in Bing Maps app in WP8 is still better about routing around heavy traffic than Here Drive is, even if you launch Here Drive from Bing Maps.
It is absolutely terrible about road closures. I regularly get directed down roads that have been closed for months (which Bing maps knows about, incidentally), or get directed to go the wrong way down a one-way expressway that switches directions every day on a schedule. Bing maps (and WP7) were much better about this. These is *not* some obscure city, either; in fact, I'm less than 20 miles from Microsoft headquarters.
It has once completely frozen my phone (while navigating, when I lost cellular reception in a mountain valley). Tapping the Power button didn't even turn the screen off; I had to hold it down (or pull the battery, which isn't practical on all phone models) and hard-reboot. That shouldn't even be *possible*, of course, so the OS takes some **** for that too...
It doesn't send turn directions over Bluetooth headset profile (only A2DP/"Music" profile) the way that WP7 would.
It doesn't pause music playback when speaking directions the way wp7 would; it just mutes the music temporarily.
If the music is paused, and the phone is on Bluetooth (both music and headset profiles), it will resume music playback after speaking the directions (admittedly, this might be the fault of the Bluetooth in this particular car).
It won't/can't keep the screen turned on when navigating on battery; I get that it drains the battery faster (although the GPS does that quite well already) but I like to be able to see directions at a glance.
It doesn't display the full list of directions once you start navigating (at least, I haven't found a way to make it do so).
It will send you down obscure, tiny, alley-like, residential, or meandering country roads, even if the (slightly longer route on the traffic-free) highway would be much faster, because it doesn't know what the speed limit on those streets is and therefore can't tell that it's substantially slower than taking the slightly longer route (and yes, I have it set to "fastest" not "shortest").
It has no lane assistance at all (neither did WP7, but other apps and devices do, and it would be very handy).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whoow...
Amazing feedback !!!
I will going to wait for a time before by another phone.
I read in GSM Arena that Nokia is going to Show somethinck big tomorow...
But today i was drive in a small village, in a midle of the farm, and the Navigator with the Open Maps don´t show nothing, horrible.
Uruguay is in the end of the Earth, but with Garmin i can use the .img maps of MAPEAR...
Why Android change all with Android 4.2.2 ??? Only for business, for shure *&¨%&¨&(¨&¨*
Well, thanks for the support !!!

I can confirm, that Here Drive+ (the new name of Nokia Drive Beta) has indeed the option to download maps for Uruguay, the maps themselves are of 47.4 MB size. This is indeed quite small, however I have no idea how big the country is, so it may just be enough.
On the other hand, I disagree with GoodDayToDie on one of his points: I own a bluetooth headset, the Jabra Wave Plus (love this headset), and I can indeed hear both the speed warnings, and the voice directions on the headset.
I'm using an HTC Windows Phone 8x.
Hope I helped.

@TheGoldrocker: Can you also stream music over your headset? If so, the headset supports both "Headset" profile (mono-channel audio + microphone, intended primarily for use with hands-free devices) and at least one of the audio / music profiles like "A2DP" which provide quality stereo sound but no microphone. A single device can, and many will, offer both at the same time. However, many cars still only offer Headset profile, and at least for me, the instructions (and audio warnings) do not play over the headset profile connection. When the phone is connected to a Music profile Bluetooth device (and doesn't have headphones connected), it will send all of its audio (including stuff from apps) over the Bluetooth connection; that isn't anything special that Here Drive is doing.

TheGoldrocker said:
I can confirm, that Here Drive+ (the new name of Nokia Drive Beta) has indeed the option to download maps for Uruguay, the maps themselves are of 47.4 MB size. This is indeed quite small, however I have no idea how big the country is, so it may just be enough.
On the other hand, I disagree with GoodDayToDie on one of his points: I own a bluetooth headset, the Jabra Wave Plus (love this headset), and I can indeed hear both the speed warnings, and the voice directions on the headset.
I'm using an HTC Windows Phone 8x.
Hope I helped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, good thing to know.
I don´t know how big is a Here Drive + file compare to an nm2 (first type of Navitel file), but the complet Map of Uruguay in NM2 has just 30m.
Talking about Uruguay, it is a very small country, i believe it have 20009306 ha. If you take a car at one point of the country and go and make a complete "circle" in it, returning at the first point, the distance will going to be more or less 1800 km...
Well, returning to threat, what type the file works Here Drive + ? It works with .img or gpx ?
Nokia, i believe that in a short time i will turning back to you...

GoodDayToDie said:
Can you also stream music over your headset?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. I just used the TuneIn Radio app to listen to online radio on the headset.
In the Bluetooth settings menu it says:
JABRA WAVE+
connected voice, music
Calen77 said:
I don´t know how big is a Here Drive + file compare to an nm2 (first type of Navitel file), but the complete Map of Uruguay in NM2 has just 30m.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Nokia maps come from a company called Navteq.
I do not have any info on what extension or what format they're stored in, because WP8 doesn't have a file explorer yet.
However the analysis I can give you is the following: I live in Romania, which is 238,391 square kms, compared to Uruguay's (according to wikipedia) 181,034 square kms, it's 31% bigger.
But if maps also depend on the number of people living there: Romania's population is 20,121,641, compared to Uruguay's 3,286,314 (also wikipedia data) is an increase of 612%.
Knowing, that Romania's road maps weigh 115.8 MBs, I see it quite possible, that 47MB of maps can be enough to cover most, if not all of Uruguay's roads.
The road details are really good here, even most of the unpaved roads are mapped (and we have a LOT of those ), so I hope you get a similarly detailed road experience.
I forgot to mention, that as a non-Nokia phone owner, I had to pay for my Here Drive+, it costed about 33 Euros (44 USD). For Nokia, there are 2 versions of this app available:
Some phones get Here Drive+ (which is the same as the app I'm using) for free
Others only get Here Drive - this app only includes free maps for a single area or country. It can be unlocked to be used in more countries, but it will cost a little. I'd estimate something up to 20 Euros. Someone with more Nokia Lumia experience could help you more here.

I've used them both and I prefer Garman over Nokia drive. Nokia Drive is a basic Navi app, for what it does, for the most part does a great job. It's kind of stripped down as a navi app. I could not find how to show the full directions(I like to take a look how it's routing me before starting through to see if it's a place I want to avoid) or how to turn on POI's (places to eat, gas stations, etc).
Nokia drive is a nice basic navi app that is free but, If you want a full featured one, Garmin offers that and could be better depending on your needs. (too bad it does not support off line maps, but, I have unlimited data it's not a major deal to me)
Does anyone else who has used both agree here or did I miss something on Nokia Drive (I have a Lumia 928 in the US)

DavidinCT said:
I've used them both and I prefer Garman over Nokia drive. Nokia Drive is a basic Navi app, for what it does, for the most part does a great job. It's kind of stripped down as a navi app. I could not find how to show the full directions(I like to take a look how it's routing me before starting through to see if it's a place I want to avoid) or how to turn on POI's (places to eat, gas stations, etc).
Nokia drive is a nice basic navi app that is free but, If you want a full featured one, Garmin offers that and could be better depending on your needs. (too bad it does not support off line maps, but, I have unlimited data it's not a major deal to me)
Does anyone else who has used both agree here or did I miss something on Nokia Drive (I have a Lumia 928 in the US)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just yesterday wondered the same thing. There was an update for HERE Drive. Its mostly a UI revamp, but it now displays POIs. Also, it seems to have a trail feature, not that anything can be done with it yet. I still can't find full directions either. It seems that Nokia wants people to use HERE Maps for that. Why Nokia insists on having TWO mapping apps, I'll never know!?

thals1992 said:
I just yesterday wondered the same thing. There was an update for HERE Drive. Its mostly a UI revamp, but it now displays POIs. Also, it seems to have a trail feature, not that anything can be done with it yet. I still can't find full directions either. It seems that Nokia wants people to use HERE Maps for that. Why Nokia insists on having TWO mapping apps, I'll never know!?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have both of them installed (I own Garmin), and I do a compare on both of them for a bunch of trips now. If you just need to get from Point A to Point B with no frills, Nokia drive is your app but, If you want the extra features that you would get off a full blown Navi system, Garmin is the one for you.
Unless someone can show me How to get the full directions that it will be taking before or during a trip and POI but, I will have to check to see if it's there after the last update..

[Q] From Ativ S to Nokia 920, Is it worth it?

I replaced my UK Ativ S 2 days ago, however, now with GDR2 and lack of support and apps from Samsung, Im not sure if I should switch to a Lumia 920 and could do with some advice from the community.
My reasons are:
- Ativ S has an awful speaker with very low ringer and text message volumes, I sometimes miss calls.
- Since GDR2, my music/playlist syncing on SD Card is broken (2 or 3 tracks repeated, empty playlist), but is ok on the Phone storage.
- Camera is OK but sometimes blurry, so not an amazing Cam.
- AMOLED screen is a bit over saturated and unreadable in sunlight.
However, what Ive read about Lumia 920s, even after GDR2 update (Are these still true as of GDR2)..
Nokia music is still broken.. same issues as Im having above with the ativ sd card.
the 920 still randomly shuts down and crashes on basic tasks like phone calls and music sync.
Phone signal and wifi drops out randomly.
Sudden battery drains.
Im attracted to the Nokia because it has 32GB onboard , which is enough for me, useful Nokia apps, great sound and louder ringer volumes - apparently.
Great camera.. and of course, looks lovely.
I do love WP8, the best OS in a long time, I just cant decide whether to stick on Ativ S or 920.
Thanks

I'd stick with it. The only interop-unlocked device at the moment is the ATIV S, so I'd hold out until either a larger physical WP device releases e.g. the Lumia 1520? or a different device gets hacked.

For put music corect use a Windows phone app disponible in windows 8/ 8 Pro!

neergaby95 said:
For put music corect use a Windows phone app disponible in windows 8/ 8 Pro!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
????.. Don't quite understand what you mean..
Decided to stick on Ativ S... I sold the one I had.. and bought a brand new sealed one on eBay.. Scan Computers in the UK are selling an Unlocked batch off for £190 (inc P&P), now Sync'ing playlists to SD is working fine, so unless theres been an update, then I mustve had a faulty device.
Thankfully all sorted
Back to loving the Ativ S.. I just wish Samsung would Support it