Why is there so many important things in the radio? - Nexus One Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Why is there so many important things in the radio? I would have assumed the radio would have been for just radio based items on the phone (GPS, WiFi, 2/3G, etc). But it seems to have a massive impact to the rest of the system (camera for example).
So could someone explain to me why Android is laid out in such a way?

It's not so much Android, but the hardware it runs on. The "radio" provides access between the phone's hardware and the OS.

Related

Bluetooth controls for Timeriffic using Donut ROMs?

I'm (very) new to Android, so I may have misunderstood some things.
I have rooted and flashed the latest CM, and that is running well. I note that the cooked ROMs tend to offer us things in a 1.6 base that would otherwise require >= 2.x.
I use Timeriffic, at a minimum, to switch my phone to mute/vibrate while I'm at work.
I am also using it as a partial power/battery management tool. ie. I have it set the phone to Airplane mode from 11pm-7am.
Timeriffic does offer the option to toggle Bluetooth automatically, but its disabled for me, which I'm guessing is b/c I've read some things that suggest that the API for this was not released until 2.0, thus progy's don't support it.
Question I have is whether
a) the app is simply detecting the OS version and assuming the feature isn't there
b) OR is the feature is something that can be back-ported into 1.6, altho then app in question may/not still realize its there and offer the user this control.
And/or is there any other 1.6 compatible time-based scheduler that offers the ability to control Bluetooth. Given my druthers, I would only enable it for 4-5 hours/weekday, and then all weekend, the times I am likely to be in my car, where I would use my BT headset.
thanks,
Mike

[Q] general question about gps

Hey! I'm new to SGS captivate and to the whole gps thing and do have a question about the basic concepts (how does it work, how does it track you, etc etc) of gps on SGS. Is there some kind of manual or faq I can refer to? Google'ing doesn't work for me in this case and xda search gives no clear results.
Try Wikipedia
Wikipedia and Garmin and other sites have a lot of detail. Your question is so broad I am not sure I can answer it.
Basically, the phone has a special chip inside that is dedicated to deciphering the radio signals broadcast by an array (it's called a "constellation") of satellites. By locking onto several of these signals it can make available a stream of data to installed applications on the phone to interpret. The data can represent your position in space (x, y, and z) as well as time. Your location can now be displayed on a map (Google Maps is a fine example), as well as your speed (usually restricted to on the ground).
Important things:
Hardware: The GPS chip, the antenna
Software: The Samsung driver that interfaces the chip to the Android environment, the special applications that interpret and display this data in a useful fashion.
Performance: How accurate is your location? How quickly does the GPS acquire a "lock"? How well does the software/GPS track your changing location?
It appears that there is a wide variation in performance and expectations among the owners of these Samsung Galaxy S phones. My personal expectations have been based on several prior phones, and I find the Captivate performance to vary widely and randomly, depending on software builds/settings and the physical environment.
I have used this same phone with a cheap external Bluetooth GPS and found the performance dramatically better. I am not sure if the phone native GPS performance will ever live up to my expectations.
mmarquis said:
Wikipedia and Garmin and other sites have a lot of detail. Your question is so broad I am not sure I can answer it.
Basically, the phone has a special chip inside that is dedicated to deciphering the radio signals broadcast by an array (it's called a "constellation") of satellites. By locking onto several of these signals it can make available a stream of data to installed applications on the phone to interpret. The data can represent your position in space (x, y, and z) as well as time. Your location can now be displayed on a map (Google Maps is a fine example), as well as your speed (usually restricted to on the ground).
Important things:
Hardware: The GPS chip, the antenna
Software: The Samsung driver that interfaces the chip to the Android environment, the special applications that interpret and display this data in a useful fashion.
Performance: How accurate is your location? How quickly does the GPS acquire a "lock"? How well does the software/GPS track your changing location?
It appears that there is a wide variation in performance and expectations among the owners of these Samsung Galaxy S phones. My personal expectations have been based on several prior phones, and I find the Captivate performance to vary widely and randomly, depending on software builds/settings and the physical environment.
I have used this same phone with a cheap external Bluetooth GPS and found the performance dramatically better. I am not sure if the phone native GPS performance will ever live up to my expectations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the detailed info. Well, wiki does have some common overall thoughts about the gps system but I was more interested in SGS realization of it. I guess your post made it a little more clear for me, thanks!

Few questions

I'm not new to android but this questions keep coming in my mind so I will ask
1. what is panorama mod in camera.
2. what is mainver, CID
3. what is radio.
4. When we use unlock_code.bin to unlock a phone can the same file be use to unlock bootloader of another device.
Sorry I accidentaly created 2 threads.(I think they are called threads) I'm new here so sorry about that
1.It's stitching a few pictures together , you can try combining them to create 360 degree pictures.
2.
Code:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=21701198#post21701198
3.The radio firmware controls basic low-level functions like network connectivity, Wi-Fi, and GPS. For several years, though, "radio" means "baseband", and controls network connectivity aspects only, while WiFi and GPS are governed by OS drivers, like any other devices.
Usually upgrading your radio will not give you any new features but will fix connectivity issues, increase range or performance, decrease battery usage, or the like. Some ROM's require you to have the latest radio versions to work.
While a botched radio upgrade can brick your phone, the process is basically the same as upgrading your ROM. Just make sure not to unplug or power down your phone in the middle, make sure you trust the person who released the radio firmware, and try to read some comments or reviews.
4.I don't think it works that easy.
I answered what I knew
optimus0208 said:
4. When we use unlock_code.bin to unlock a phone can the same file be use to unlock bootloader of another device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no. the unlock.bin is device-unique. That's why they had you stick that big block of text in to get it.

[Q] FM Radio Native Optimus Black

Hello, guys any custom rom Jelly Bean for Optimus Black can run native radio?
Sorry the insistence in this matter can not I enteder this technical level as developers fail to implement a solution to this.
There is a critical ok, I'm a layman on the subject, but I believe that technically for those who can develop a custom rom is not difficult to make this implementation.
The problem is that here in Brazil for example, is that I could even put the app TuneIn Radio, but due to restrictions of the transmission network operator falls all the time, to get an idea of network oscillation here between areas is very large, and sometimes because of a difference of meters you lose the data signal.
For you who turns to see the world cup inform yourself very well about the telephone operators in the Brazil, they leave much to be desired.
Finally returning to the subject, can anyone help in this regard installing the radio in native custom rom?
Thank you.

Retired androids... dedicated media players?

Forgive the noob question, but I have several older android cell phones, I think it'd be neat to turn them into wifi enabled dedicated music players. I.e. no apps, less services to run. Are there such roms? How complicated would it be to build a rom with no cell radio, but bluetooth and wifi only? Would it be as easy as stripping a rom that exists for the phone to its bare essentials? What are the primary challenges in building a stripped-out rom for a individual legacy phones? Is there such a thing as a universal Android rom? Or, short of a full rom, a full launcher replacement that acts solely in this fashion?
I mean, if I have an old Verizon cell, and I'm on t-mobile or at&t, it seems a fate less worthy for a device that could still perform such a basic function as a music or media player.
I'm just thinking, that's all.
And if no such thing exists but is certainly possible, i'll probably become a new developer.
Lol
My old SII sits around the house as a dedicated music / radio streaming device. There's not really any need for a special ROM, just flash something light like CM or AOSP and remove anything not needed. Put it in airplane mode to disable the radio and leave wifi on, job done.

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