Develop Bugs

Recommendation for converged device

Hi,
I'd appreciate your recommendation of a converged device (ie PDA & phone) that does everything AND does not have a camera.
Today I have an Axim X51V, that has a very large VGA screen, WIFI, BT, but is not a phone and does not have GPS.
I'm aware of the HP HW6910 and the FS LOOX T810. Both are quite large, due to the fixed frontal keyboard. Further, they have a very small, low-res screen.
I'd prefer a smaller device (possibly by having a sliding keyboard) while not sacrificing the screen size and resolution..
I also don't mind if the device doesn't have an integrated GPS, as I own a BT GPS.
My usage is as follows:
1. Sync with Outlook at the office.
2. Browse the Web via WIFI (B/G) or BT.
3. Navigation, using various navigation apps.
4. Pick up mails while travelling.
5. View/edit documents, PDFs, Excels, etc (but this is a light usage).
6. RSS feeds, weather, etc, all sorts of utilities.
7. Watch family pictures every now and them.
8. No music, basically no movies or games.
Additional considerations (in addition to the above usage):
1. I'd prefer a Quad-Band/Tri-Band device, with preference to GSM networks (as I live in Europe).
2. Support for GPRS, EDGE at the least.
3. Fast CPU, for the Nav apps.
4. Lots of memory.
5. WIFI (B/G) and BT (2.0 preferred).
6. Standard Mini USB port preferred.
7. Powerful battery.
How does the forthcoming WM OS affect my decision?
I'd appreciate your recommendations.
Thank you,
Daniel

Well the Hermes is a great device but it has a camera.

How about the Cingular 8500? i.e. The non-camera version of the Cingular 8525. I just recently(2 days ago) received my Cingular 8525, and I am EXTREMELY pleased with it.

What is the generic name of the Cingular 8525?
The non-camera thing is imperative, as my workplace won't allow cameras.

wisniak said:
The non-camera thing is imperative, as my workplace won't allow cameras.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I'm not 100% sure what you mean by a generic name, but essentially it's a Hermes 100 device(minus the camera, of course). I'm also not sure if Cingular is shipping these units yet, or if they even have any in stock. My uneducated guess would be that they release them at the same time as the 8525, but of course, I could be wrong about that. BTW, my 8525 is just fantastic! Learning more and more about it every day!

Which rom suits me?

ok.
I'm a new O2 xda exec owner, although i've previously owned an axim and i currently own an hx4700, and i'm a developer, so i'm technically literate. In case it matters, i'll be using this phone on a 3G network in australia. Vodafone/Optus/3
What i need the device to do.
1. Make/Receive phone calls in 2G & 3G
2. Run .NET framework 2 mobile (ie studio 2005 apps)
3. Use GPRS & UTMS data
4. use WIFI with good performance
5. PIM applications (Calander, contacts etc)
6. Remote Desktop/Terminal services client
What i would like the phone to do
1. Video calling
2. Work with a standard bluetooth headset
3. be responsive
4. Have "Hi-res" mode in PIE
5. Have a GPRS disconnect button
6. As high a degree of office doc compatability as possible
7. Have as much free memory as possible
8. Sync with both vista and xp
9. Do a rotations shift (portrait-landscape) as quickly as pos
10. Have a pretty (skinnable?) Phone dialer app
11. Ideally support SDHC cards (4gb), lowest priority though
12. Good stablity and uptime
What i'm not fussed about
1. Stereo bluetooth/ any bluetooth except headset
Can anyone recommend which version of the Radio rom and Main rom i should be using? (currently got "midget" wm6 rom and radio 1.09), my bootloader says version "1.00".
Also, where would i find the radio roms?...
Any suggestions gratefully accepted.

Reliable VoIP on Hermes? Experiences?

Hi,
I would like to use my Hermes as a VoIP device via WiFi. To be more precise, I want to use it seriously, not just to play around. The battery time is neglectible, server-side voip configuration and codes can be adjusted.
So far I have seen Schaps WM6.0 Rom, the Voipwm6.cab's, the voip Drivers .cab and destr0`s cab (I have also tested some overfilled Rom Images with Voip support).
My experience so far has been rather disappointing, laggy connections, no reconnecting after Wlan disconnect, lack of speech codecs. This seems surprising to me, as there are other WM6 based devices, with similiar memory and processor power, being marketed as business-VoIP devices (eg. some iPAQs). So, as far as I understand, it should be possible to enable full VoIP functionality, quality and reliability by chosing the right software.
My question:
Is somebody here using VoIP on a Hermes daily? What setup are you using, which drivers did you install? Are there WM6.1 Voip drivers availible? I do not like this mixing up of different library versions, which seems to be popular with the rom kitchens.

SKYPE MOBILE FIND IT ON THE SKYPE SITE THATS what I always use I have millions of enteries and errands to run and I have to meet political connections in other countries and I know this sounds boring but here I am and I have to use VOIP NO JOKE

since you asked.....
I fooled around with the same issue for several months. While Fring and the newest version of skype for ppc both gave good sound quality, I have given up on the issue because of an unacceptable voice delay (~0.5 ). I once thought the issue was related to my internet provider - my current opinion is that this is due windows mobile issues and inadequate processing power. Calling in to a local voip dial-in access telephone # via my hermes did NOT produce the same voice delay, nor did internet skype calling via a wifi connection from my computer. I also got the voice delay when I tried calling via a 3g/umts cellular connection and when using some Viop software found on this site. Finally, using every phone 'tweak' I could find on the internet also did not improve the voice delay, nor did different 'fast' custom ROMs improve the issue. If you/or anyone else ever solves the problem of voice delay on the hermes, I would love to know how.

I've been testing NCH Express Talk: http://www.nch.com.au/talk/index.html + this little utility that forces sound output to the earpiece: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=396829
I haven't done much field testing, but the quality is much better than inbuilt VoIP, works ok over 3G and unlike Fring, the communication between you and your VoIP provider is direct.

Thanks for your replies and sharing your experiences. At least now I do not feel like a complete idiot. The strange thing is that when I tried Voip on Hermes the first times (just with VoIP.cab etc). and connecting directly to a normal provider sound quality was really good and the lag was low. Some hours later it has been bad.
As far as I am concerned, I have also tested agephone (gives you a lot of configuration options) and i will test voipsurfer (uses iax) a bit more as soon as i find some time.
I will not give up now. Among other things I want to look at the network settings of the Hermes (packet size etc.) and test with a lot of free memory.
I am going to keep this thread updated, as soon as I find out more.

Tremere, thanks for the nch hint. The program gave me a warning about my network setup, which may lead to one-way or lagged audio. Hmm...

Voip
Download fring from yr htc install it and insert yr voip account.
It works like charm.

wallabyman said:
Tremere, thanks for the nch hint. The program gave me a warning about my network setup, which may lead to one-way or lagged audio. Hmm...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got around the warning by setting up port forwarding on my router. The audio is fine, both directions work, but the lag is still not acceptable.

I bought a Hermes (8525) about 2 weeks ago and have been trying out different voip methods. Here's my bit:
Skype
+Keeps phone from sleeping so you can always be logged in
+Best sound quality from the ways I've tried
+Very cheap rates for US calls and DID
-Very unstable on my device. I constantly have to soft reset when skype runs
-Skype contacts separate from Hermes contacts
-Speakerphone used by default, which causes bad echoing. Torca2 works to route sound to earpiece, but awkward to start/stop. I haven't managed to get audioswitch to work, which would sort things out.
-Must use +1 on calls, and the + is obnoxious to get to
Fring (with skype)
+More stable, and I can use gmail chat!
+Smoother interface (for me) than skype
-Short to medium delay, enough to be a deal-breaker
-Doesn't stop device from sleeping, so calls in don't work
-Fring contacts separate from Hermes contacts
SIP with Home Asterisk/Sisky-Skype Server
+More control over detailed options
+When at home, great call quality with little delay
+WM6 has built in voip support
+Phone automatically logs into wifi networks and connects back to my home server very well, displays status on today screen
+Hermes contacts dial using voip when available
+Easy to build on and add more phones (mobile and landlines) to the system
-Good quality but bad delay (so far) when connecting remotely through the internet
-Tricky to get set up from scratch
-Requires at least one dedicated server, preferably two
-Sisky enterprise software is proprietary ($60, free 30-day trial)
-Voip stops when the device is in standby. There are supposed to be ways around this but at the cost of battery life. Still testing...
I'm going to try the voip with voipbuster or another provider... but that's next weekend. I'm hoping my home asterisk server pans out, but there's a lot of configurations to learn and perfect.
Here's the link for torca2 again
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=396829
And audioswitch, which would be a gem if it worked on the hermes
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=469223

Bluetooth A2DP on my Tilt2: WORTHLESS AS $H!T

Ok, so I finally got into the smartphone game to get a better music streaming experience. MFRadio and MFScorn just weren't cutting it for me anymore. I hated the skips and the ridiculously long (and repeated) buffering time. So I first looked at Android phones but went with WinMo because they say you can run both OS's with WinMo (and the only Android offering from AT&T has a 12-hour standby time before the battery dies, according to reviews).
I have a Bluetooth head unit and have had over a dozen phones paired with it. This phone however is a completely different story. I have installed the latest "release" from AT&T (from a thread on this site). At first I tried streaming with the bundled Windows Media Player which apparently doesn't stream anything at all (with both the bundled and downloaded releases of the OS), then downloaded TCPMP. TCPMP is everything I have ever dreamed of in a streaming media player, but the only problem I have with it is that it won't connect to a stream unless I have already opened up a browser window and went to a website. Not the end of the world.
So, I get in my truck and initiate pairing to the phone. It sees the head unit as a Hands-free and as Stereo Audio. I can get it to connect for a split second and then it dies. I get a popup notification that tells me that the phone cannot control volume when paired to the bluetooth device and audio must be adjusted from the device itself. Fine. But then it doesn't work at all. At first, I wanted to blame TCPMP until I realized that nothing at all was working with the head unit. I think I got it to work once but it never worked again.
So is there any way to fix this problem? This is the one thing I wanted working on my new phone. Yes, the notifications that my texts were successfully sent are very annoying (as well as the other notifications), and yes, Windows Media Player for Mobile is useless, but the fact that I can't stream Bluetooth audio on this phone really makes this phone worthless to me. Didn't anyone bother testing this stuff before releasing this garbage? The Tilt is a paperweight to me right now because it can't do the one thing I want it to do the most. I might as well go back to my Sony Ericsson W760a at this point!
What can I do? I have not yet unlocked anything (although I have a SIM unlock code waiting) and have not yet flashed Hard-SPL. My phone has Bluetooth for Windows Mobile Version 1.9.2 Build 600 HCI Version 4.84. I'd do anything at this point to get this working. Windows Mobile is not that precious to me either. PLEASE HELP!

e-thug said:
Ok, so I finally got into the smartphone game to get a better music streaming experience. MFRadio and MFScorn just weren't cutting it for me anymore. I hated the skips and the ridiculously long (and repeated) buffering time. So I first looked at Android phones but went with WinMo because they say you can run both OS's with WinMo (and the only Android offering from AT&T has a 12-hour standby time before the battery dies, according to reviews).
I have a Bluetooth head unit and have had over a dozen phones paired with it. This phone however is a completely different story. I have installed the latest "release" from AT&T (from a thread on this site). At first I tried streaming with the bundled Windows Media Player which apparently doesn't stream anything at all (with both the bundled and downloaded releases of the OS), then downloaded TCPMP. TCPMP is everything I have ever dreamed of in a streaming media player, but the only problem I have with it is that it won't connect to a stream unless I have already opened up a browser window and went to a website. Not the end of the world.
So, I get in my truck and initiate pairing to the phone. It sees the head unit as a Hands-free and as Stereo Audio. I can get it to connect for a split second and then it dies. I get a popup notification that tells me that the phone cannot control volume when paired to the bluetooth device and audio must be adjusted from the device itself. Fine. But then it doesn't work at all. At first, I wanted to blame TCPMP until I realized that nothing at all was working with the head unit. I think I got it to work once but it never worked again.
So is there any way to fix this problem? This is the one thing I wanted working on my new phone. Yes, the notifications that my texts were successfully sent are very annoying (as well as the other notifications), and yes, Windows Media Player for Mobile is useless, but the fact that I can't stream Bluetooth audio on this phone really makes this phone worthless to me. Didn't anyone bother testing this stuff before releasing this garbage? The Tilt is a paperweight to me right now because it can't do the one thing I want it to do the most. I might as well go back to my Sony Ericsson W760a at this point!
What can I do? I have not yet unlocked anything (although I have a SIM unlock code waiting) and have not yet flashed Hard-SPL. My phone has Bluetooth for Windows Mobile Version 1.9.2 Build 600 HCI Version 4.84. I'd do anything at this point to get this working. Windows Mobile is not that precious to me either. PLEASE HELP!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmmm .... I don't believe you ever stated what type of headset you are trying to get working here? I find your problem to be very strange, even though WinMo does seem to be lacking in a lot of different areas, audio streaming via bluetooth stereo headset is definitely not a problem I have encountered. It even streams flawlessly through my 5.1 hooked to my pc via a crappy 8 buck bt dongle and still sounds excellent. Have you considered that the problem may lie with your bt headset itself?
Also, when you say that you installed latest "release" from AT&T (from a thread on this site), what exactly do you mean? I am running the "unofficial" leaked rom from AT&T on mine and I just paired my Motorola S9 stereo headset and it is playing great for me. You also may want to try using some different software, give S2P (Slide 2 Play) a try and see if you have different results. That's what I am using right now, but I have used TCPMP to play a few xVids through my headset and have had no problems.

The problem is not in the head unit. 25 other phones can't all be wrong. I have no problem using my bluetooth headset. That is probably why you don't see the problem. Anything more complex than a headset will not work with this release. The problem lies within the phone as soon as it displays a notification (which, of course I cannot disable) which reads, "The connected Bluetooth headset does not support volume adjustment from the device. Adjust volume on the headset itself."
That message is the kiss of death. So basically any Bluetooth head unit will not work with this phone? Sounds like shoddy programming to me. Yes, I am using the "leaked" release. I really don't think this release will ever see the light of day. Its horrible! You cannot disable notifications (I don't need to know when my text messages were sent successfully), and it looks like whenever I get a system notification, any program I am using crashes immediately. Like I said before, as soon as I get a notification, I lose the Bluetooth connection (which is like a split second before the notification comes up). I highly doubt this "leaked" copy will ever see the light of day, officially (unless AT&T and HTC do absolutely zero testing on it).

A little clarification for those who don't know... when I say "head unit" I'm talking about a Bluetooth-enabled car stereo and when I say "headset" I mean a Bluetooth headset

My Tilt 2 works absolutely fine with all my BT devices, including 2 Motorola headphone sets and my Sony Xplod head unit in my truck.

e-thug said:
A little clarification for those who don't know... when I say "head unit" I'm talking about a Bluetooth-enabled car stereo and when I say "headset" I mean a Bluetooth headset
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was mis-understanding you about the head unit, I did think you were talking about a headset. Sorry bout that, my Mustang doesn't have built-in BT so I have to use a Motorokr t505 for those chores. It works well but it does give me the same message that you are getting about "volume can't be cotrolled etc" but I can dismiss it and carry on without any problems.

but the fact that I can't stream Bluetooth audio on this phone really makes this phone worthless to me. Didn't anyone bother testing this stuff before releasing this garbage? The Tilt is a paperweight to me right now because it can't do the one thing I want it to do the most. I might as well go back to my Sony Ericsson W760a at this point!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since you don't need your phone for calls, just get Sirius or XM. Ya know, considering you only stream music through the phone..

Did you try the BT headset or head unit with the original stock ROM before you flashed the "leaked official" ROM?
Seems like you might have a couple random issues, with the BT issues and the system notifications crashing programs. I haven't flashed the leaked ROM, but I do know that many random issues with cooked ROMs can often be cleared up by running Task29, which completely wipes the phone memory before you flash a new ROM. I think you will need to HardSPL before you run Task29. Might be worth a try, sometimes fragments of the old ROM interfere with the new one, and cause some bugs.

Bluetooth protocols can be implemented differently by different manufacturers.
I know of many people including myself who have NO PROBLEM with the tilt 2 and different Bluetooth products INCLUDING car radios.
I am using the "new" AT&T ROM and have no difficulties.
Clearly your pissed but your subject is wrong. I would suggest changing to "Worthless as $HIT to ME"

I think my problem is that I am getting notifications which seem to be killing my connection. Is there a way to turn all notifications OFF? The only ones I care about are missed calls, incoming SMS and maybe a birthday. I would like to try to kill the notifications first because I think this may solve my problem

You can get yourself a free reg editor (like Total Commander) and apply the following tweaks to modify the notifications:
SMS sent notification: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/06/24/enable-or-disable-the-sms-text-message-sent-notification-bubble/
Other notifications: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/06/24/tweak-and-configure-how-notifications-work-in-windows-mobile-notifications/
Although, this sounds like a band-aid just hiding a deeper problem. What you are describing is not typical behavior, and this is something else going on.

redpoint73 said:
You can get yourself a free reg editor (like Total Commander) and apply the following tweaks to modify the notifications:
SMS sent notification: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/...he-sms-text-message-sent-notification-bubble/
Other notifications: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/...cations-work-in-windows-mobile-notifications/
Although, this sounds like a band-aid just hiding a deeper problem. What you are describing is not typical behavior, and this is something else going on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I will try these out and report back
For the record my head unit is a JVC KD-BT11 and I have never had any kind of problem pairing any other phone

Somebody else just posted a very similar issue, and found the app hAndyUtils to be helpful:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=741311
I think hAndyUtils might just be a app-based way to make the reg edits I posted earlier. But give it a try.

I scanned through the topic and did not see anyone mention this so I thought I would add my .02. The Tilt 2 is different than many other WM phones when it comes to bluetooth as it contains the Widcomm BT stack instead of the MS stack. (Just as an aside, on all my past phones, there were people bemoaning the the fact that it had MS, and trying to replace it with the Widcomm, so I am getting a real chuckle out of folks complaining about the Widcomm and wishing for MS )
In any case, the utilities (Blue music toggle etc...) that used to work for me to toggle between streaming in stereo and plain phone qulity no longer work. However, all my stereo headsets (I own three different brands/pairs) all work perfectly with the Tilt 2. And stay connected and streaming all day.
By the way, coming on a forum that is full of people helping each other and using profanity, anger and threats, is not the most conducive way to get your questions answered. The odds are that the problem you are having is already solved somewhere among the 6+ million posts in this forum. I do not know where or I would post it for you, but it is probably out there. Good luck. And if you find it, please post the link to the answer back here so that other serchers will find it too.

maybe it can come from the phone itself
i had a rhodium for almost a year and never got my motorola headset ht820 to work well enough for me to use it... (more skips than music...cant move my head without a skip)
i flashed to a NRG rom before trying my headset...i tried eveything as far as ref setting, different radios...even flashed my ht820...
no improvement...
then my phone fell in water not so long ago...got another rhodium same model (european)...and it worked perfect out the box on stock rom i can go in a different room than my device and still hear music with no skips...and it still does with nrg rom and latest radio...
so my guess is maybe some actual devices have bad bluetooth hardware ???

I have the Motorola S9 and the HT820 and both work absolutely fine on my Tilt 2.

yatrg said:
I scanned through the topic and did not see anyone mention this so I thought I would add my .02. The Tilt 2 is different than many other WM phones when it comes to bluetooth as it contains the Widcomm BT stack instead of the MS stack.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can I change my Bluetooth stack to MS? I have installed Hard-SPL and have experimented with cooked ROMs to no avail.
I sent the phone back to AT&T, went to Trinidad & Tobago for a few weeks and came home to a new Tilt 2 waiting at my doorstep (which could have been stolen by anyone!) and I am still having the same problem. So I guess I sent back a perfectly good phone!
I would love to try some different Bluetooth stacks if possible. Where do I go from here?

e-thug said:
Can I change my Bluetooth stack to MS? I have installed Hard-SPL and have experimented with cooked ROMs to no avail.
I sent the phone back to AT&T, went to Trinidad & Tobago for a few weeks and came home to a new Tilt 2 waiting at my doorstep (which could have been stolen by anyone!) and I am still having the same problem. So I guess I sent back a perfectly good phone!
I would love to try some different Bluetooth stacks if possible. Where do I go from here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you ever try the solution in this thread? It fixed a lot of issues people were having with bluetooth car kits. Maybe it will work for you: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=591322
The solution source is here: http://www.everythingwm.com/forum/moto-q-9c/q9c-and-infiniti-g35x-bluetooth-problem-16833-4.html
And here is the solution. You need a registry editor to do this:
1. Modify the HandsFree plug-in:
HKLM\Software\WIDCOMM\Plugin\HandsFree
i. Change SupportedFeatures to 45 (default is 1135)
ii. Add value HFBDA binary, set to same value as LastConnectedBda
iii. Add value HFDeviceType decimal 2
2. Modify the WIDCOMM bluetooth general settings:
HKLM\Software\WIDCOMM\BtConfig\General
i. Change bdaddr to (no value)
ii. Change (or add if not there) DisableReopenAudio to 0 (default is 1)
3. Reboot device
You may also want to do the A2DP quality registry edit: Add a DWORD value of LineSpeed to HKLM\Software\WIDCOMM\Plugin\AV\ with a value of 320.
Give it a try, it may work for you.

I will give this a try and report back. Thank you very much for the response!

No luck. And my bdaddr keeps resetting to a binary value when I reset the phone

Parrot Asteroid

Anyone know anything about this stereo -
http://www.parrot.com/usa/products/bluetooth-hands-free-car-kits/parrot-asteroid
Even, where it can be bought, how much it is? What OS it runs for that matter?

well it says that it has Android embedded, so the OS is Android
it looks pretty interesting too...
as for when/where/how much, the site says "Coming soon in 2011", so I'm guessing that it is yet-to-be-offered and they may not have decided their MSRP yet.
William

First, I don't know if I can post links yet. Second, I'm too lazy to dig it up. They had an article on Androidpolice during CES that included a speaker from Parrot showcasing it. I think he said a Q2 release. I'll be getting this the second its released, regardless of price.

anyone have any more details on this? Q2 is all they're saying...
I want one now!!

For the European markets, they say May. Hopefully the beginning of May
Hope they didn't get a developer team from Motorola, then it's going to takes at least another year

next week
i was infomrmed dynamicsounds expected to be stocked next week

wonder if its worth getting
i am currently considering getting it as i need a car kit any way
apperantly they are avalible as of today at 289 euro in the netherlands

I have one
I currently have an Asteroid sitting on my desk here
When I find some time tonight I'll take it for a testdrive and let you guys know!

Excellent. Please let us know.
What apps are available at the moment?
Im hoping for Spotify and proper navigation once the sdk is released...

Yay, someone that has the Asteroid!
Please, let us now!
And, tell us how the music player works.
I want to hook a big memory card, or if there's room a 40GB laptop harddisk to the unit.
Also, streaming from Bluetooth from your phone. Btw, what kind of phone do you have?
(And hmm.. Gorinchem.. That's not that far from my weekly commute.. )

Asteroid
Been driving around with the Asteroid for a while now and it's a pretty neat radio but not perfect.
Building it into the car was a breeze. With the radio came all the needed cables, like a 3,5mm jack, iPod cable, USB cable for usb-sticks, GPS dongle and microphone for the carkit. All cables were pretty long so you should have no problem routing them to whatever place you want them in your car.
Soundquality is pretty good and there are plenty of connections for subwoofers and external amplifiers so it should suffice even for cars with loads of fat speakers.
Connecting my phone, an HTC Desire with CyanogenMod 7.1 (nightly build), was easy through bluetooth and streaming music over bluetooth went without problems. Answering phonecalls and navigating the menu is pretty easy.
A few problems I ran into though. To use internet on the radio (for google maps, internet radio, coyote speed camera alerts) you can either use a 3g USB dongle (which costs you at least 10€ a month where I live) or tether your phone through bluetooth (maybe usb works, haven't tried yet). To do this, your phone needs to support the bluetooth DUN profile which android lacks. Nokia phones should be no problem though. I've tried using 3rd party apps like PDANet but to no avail.
Furthermore I found that the device lacks some tweaking capabilities. For example, when i'm navigating my contacts from my phone, the device tries to "read" the contacts for me using text-to-speech. I've found no way to turn this off. Furthermore I could find no option in the settings to turn off the traffic announcements from radio. The device now switches to radio when i'm listening to music from my SD card to bring me the traffic information (Which can be skipped by pressing the "back" button). Finally, the device came with a Dutch language setting and i've found no way to turn this to English, which is the language I prefer.
Please note, I have only used this radio for a short while and I might've missed some things! I think this is a very nice radio though and since it is the first model and only out for a week or so now I think there will be some updates from Parrot's side, perhaps expanding the capabilities of this device. The only major drawback is the lack of internet connectivity if you have an Android phone. This is not Parrot's fault though but rather Google's. I heard though that Honeycomb supports Bluetooth PAN and I think the Asteroid supports this for Internet tethering so i'm keeping my hopes up for Android Icecream to bring this feature to my phone.
Pro:
- Lots sources for music: Radio, USB stick, SD Card, iPod, 3.5mm Jack line-in
- Android with Google Maps
- Speed camera Alerts
- Large screen (for a single DIN radio unit)
- Lots of cables came with the Radio (With a Pioneer your need to buy overpriced iPod cables separately)
- Its a handsfree carkit, and Parrot knows how to make those by now
- Lots of tweaking possible with the sound
Con:
- Internet does not work with Android phones (yet)
- Lacks certain tweaking possibilities in the settings menu
Feel free to ask any questions

Thank you for the excellent review.
Those drawbacks are major issues,
but Im hoping Parrot will come up with some patches
soon.
The Asteroid is not on sale here yet, and it might take a while.
But I am going to Holland later this month..
Anyone know a place close to Schiphol that sell Parrot equipment?

I also have the Parrot Asteroid for a few days now. But I can't get thetering trough Bluetooth working on my HTC Desire Z (Android 2.2).
I used an app called "PdaNet" or something, with that I can enalbe "Dun - Dia-up Network". And I can make a connection with the parrort trough Settings > Network > Bluetooth. But as soon as I try to use an application that uses internet, it won't work and says I need a internet connection.
Anyone know how I can use DUN or PAN, because an Asteroid doesn't have WiFi and can't tether trough USB ??
Thanx!

RobertR21,
Android does currently not support PAN or DUN so using that is probably not possible without any 3rd party software. I tried PDAnet aswell but it did not work.
You might try connecting your phone to the 3G dongle port on your asteroid through USB, as android supports USB tethering, I have not tried this myself. I can verify though that DUN works, I tried it with my Nokia and it worked flawlessly.
I hear there's rumours on the Internets though that Android icecream is going to support PAN though, so maybe then we can use our android phones. Maybe before that time Parrot will find a solution.

Does anyone know which 3g USB dongles work with the Asteroid?
In my case: I have a Trekstor/Huawei MiFi which can also be used as a "Stick" - Will this work via USB? My Asteroid Device ships in (wish me luck) tomorrow. Pimpin' my Ride is planned at Saturday ;-)
ThX

Hi, I've got the this Parrot Asteriod also.
And For you guys I can use bluetooth internet though my old HTC Hero. I can do it also with other phones. but there is a trick for it.
First root your phone, this is absolutely nessasary.
Then download from the market 'Wireless Tether for root users'(it is a free app).
This one has internet tethering through bluetooth.
Go to menu and select bluetooth instead of wifi.
then go to access-control and eneble it.
Make the bluetooth visible in the tether program.
On the asteroid go to setting and then network and then bluetooth is will find your phone(again) and press the nice parrot butten and it connects.
then on your phone again give it authorization to use the tether and you have your internet.
One problem is that you have to connect manually every time. (your carkit does it automaticly) but not the internet. But at least you can then enjoy your live radio and google maps if you want to.
You only have to have the tether active and connect only through the radio other steps are not needed anymore after.
Internet through usb with your doesn't work, to bad.
One issue that I've encountered with this radio the front panel will become pretty hot after playing an half hour on a high volume. does anyone else have this problem also?

Hi,
I am also considering getting an Asteroid. I have several questions:
- Is there also offline navigation available?
- Can any app from the normal market be installed? Or is there a special Parrot market?
- What Android version is installed?
- Anyway to root it? (What ever functionality this would add?)
Greetings
karlv

Dysphoria said:
Furthermore I found that the device lacks some tweaking capabilities. For example, when i'm navigating my contacts from my phone, the device tries to "read" the contacts for me using text-to-speech. I've found no way to turn this off. Furthermore I could find no option in the settings to turn off the traffic announcements from radio. The device now switches to radio when i'm listening to music from my SD card to bring me the traffic information (Which can be skipped by pressing the "back" button). Finally, the device came with a Dutch language setting and i've found no way to turn this to English, which is the language I prefer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For disablieng the traffic information go to tuner, select a radio station then press the menu button there you can edit if you want traffic information on or of.
text to speech, try the menu button in the app contacts you can change it there. I like that so I didn't look at it yet.
The most options regarding a app can be found in the app it self. try to look for tweaking option there.
karlv said:
Hi,
I am also considering getting an Asteroid. I have several questions:
- Is there also offline navigation available? NO, not yet at least
- Can any app from the normal market be installed? Or is there a special Parrot market? Special Parrot market, apps that are avaible can be found on the parrot site then put on usb stick and then install.
- What Android version is installed? Android 1.5
- Anyway to root it? (What ever functionality this would add?) No, maybe also later.
Greetings
karlv
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everyone can correct me if I'm wrong

anyone already tried getting in touch with the radios file system?
I assume those usb ports only are usb hosts?

there's a new firmware out:
http://download.parrot.com/Parrot_Asteroid_soft_update/asteroid_update_fr_FR.plf
It's nearly 90 MB, so it looks as a complete android software build.
can we get this extracted? modders, come on
EDIT:
there exist some plftools for other Parrot Devices. Maybe they can be used to extract useful stuff out of the Asteroid firmware files...
Links:
http://embedded-software.blogspot.c...howComment=1311293537224#c8852365956008835373
http://sites.google.com/site/repurposelinux/df3120
EDIT2:
part of the firmware update file:
parrotparts=nand0:256K(Pbootloader),16M(Pmain_boot),4M(Pfactory),241408K(Psystem) console=ttyPA0,115200 loglevel=8 update
maybe it is possible to divide the plf file into parts and mount them somehow? (http://plugcomputer.org/plugforum/index.php?topic=478.0)
EDIT3:
Serial output of AR Drone Update, wich also uses plf update files and is based on linux:
http://kapejod.org/download/ardrone_install.txt