Hi,
in the German connect magazine I read about the optical sensor wich replaces the track ball.
They wrote it is a camera and works like an optical mouse.
Then I thought: Can this "camera" be used as a front camera for video telephoning ?
And that is literally my question.
All optical mice/trackpads are cameras: http://hackaday.com/2009/06/05/ds-optical-mouse-camera/
I doubt you will be able to do anything further than what is displayed in that video above.
thx.
So not really a good idea, because it is either low-res or working like makro-focus.
It should be noted that the "only" way you could use as a camera is though hacking the hardware (as he had done in the video).
There is no way (or: I would be really surprised if there where) to access the "camera" from within the Android-system.. Just as your computer doesn't care if it the mouse you plug in is optical or uses a "ball" (x-/y-sensors etc) Android just gets the data from the sensor in the same way as if it was a trackball (as in n1, Hero etc).
Polarfuchs said:
Hi,
in the German connect magazine I read about the optical sensor wich replaces the track ball.
They wrote it is a camera and works like an optical mouse.
Then I thought: Can this "camera" be used as a front camera for video telephoning ?
And that is literally my question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good idea, i actually thought about it once before (using an optical mouse as a cam). but then i figured out that whats inside the optical mouse is a crappy camera, very low resolution, that only sense wither there is something covering it or not, and the direction of that thing if it is moving.
so the answer is, even if someone managed to hack it and used it for video call, the other person will only see a shape of dark pixels (your face) moving
But, will it work like D-Pad?
For example, on Opera Mini, I can use it to navigate the screen ... or cant I?
@gogol
I think it only works like trackball, so you have to scroll many times over the sensor. You can't keep it going like a pressed button I think.
So we could even not touch it to swap from a page to another if it works like a mouse's laser right?
If our finger is about 1-2mm above it it will read movements
vegetaleb said:
So we could even not touch it to swap from a page to another if it works like a mouse's laser right?
If our finger is about 1-2mm above it it will read movements
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that is a very good question. I should imagine that if this were the case it would be very irritating as accidental scrolling would occur a lot. Now I reckon they wont want this so I suspect they have taken measures to prevent it. Perhaps the area around the lens has a capacitance sensor so that it only works if you are actually touching it.
I should have mine soon so I will do some experiments but this probably indicates an interesting little hardware quirk.
In theory you could lower the sensitivity(/how close the finger need to be to the sensor) by dimming the IR-light (But if it's dimmed too low you'll get a lot of lag instead).
Add to that the fairly small sensor (compared to an optical mouse) and the result would be that the finger needs to (almost) touch the surface/button to make the sensor react..
IMO it's most likely that HTC has tought of the problems with "false readings" etc, and compensated for it..
I doubt that it uses a capacitance sensor, as that would make it unusable with gloves etc.
Polarfuchs said:
@gogol
I think it only works like trackball, so you have to scroll many times over the sensor. You can't keep it going like a pressed button I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe this is correct. The optical trackpad would not be able to be used as a D-pad.
I read in some other thread (another forum, perhaps) that people who said they held the Desire in their hands on the CeBIT claimed that the ring around the optical trackball could be pushed like a d-pad. Does anybody know how the optical trackball of the Legend works? Anyhow - we will see in a week or two with our own Desires
It can be clicked like a mouse button but I don't believe it has 4 micro switches to make it work like a D pad.
To the poster who mentioned the unlikelihood of the optical mouse having a capacitive sensor, on reflection, I think you are right, by having the focus very short and the movement detection threshold set right the problem wouldn't exist, not to mention the intensity if IR light as you say!
glumardok said:
I read in some other thread (another forum, perhaps) that people who said they held the Desire in their hands on the CeBIT claimed that the ring around the optical trackball could be pushed like a d-pad. Does anybody know how the optical trackball of the Legend works? Anyhow - we will see in a week or two with our own Desires
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I know, the ring around the optical sensor is only one button, and not four separate ones like in a D-pad. A D-pad that tiny would be problematic to use anyway (if the ring were to be four buttons, I mean).
I can't wait to try it and see how it performs as I have not tried an optical pad / button like that before
I hope the red light will light up when you miss a call or sms like on Nexus
I've started using my phone for watching movies at night. The soft key backlight is blinding me!
I've looked around for information on this problem and the closest solution I've found is the LED hack on the app market. The problem is, it requires root. Has anyone found a different way around this issue? Would temp-root work?
I used leds hack on my dinc for a good while till I had to replace my screen. Once I took the phone apart, I unplugged the leds from the bottom. If you're ok with voiding your warranty, go for it.
But I don't think it'll be possible without perm root.
Painter's tape
Keep a roll wherever you watch the movies...
Try changing the angle of the device slightly, if you can. I've noticed the backlighting on the softkeys aren't consistent and for them to be at their brightest, they have to be facing directly at you.
There is a free app in market called screen filter. it will allow you to toggle your backlit keys.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.haxor
I just found this thread, looking for a solution.
Neither Screen filter, nor LED hacks work on my rooted Dinc2, and the backlight for the softkeys is always on, even when I put the clock into night mode. Is it supposed to be this way, or are they designed to turn off in certain situations?
MIUI video player shuts off the lights when playing video.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using xda premium
I'm running the Virtuous Unity 2.3.5 Rom, and it has a glitch in it that I can live with.
The soft key lights don't work at all. I've gotten so used to it, I hope that when they find out what the problem is, they turn it into a on/off function instead of removing the glitch.
T.M.M.L said:
I'm running the Virtuous Unity 2.3.5 Rom, and it has a glitch in it that I can live with.
The soft key lights don't work at all. I've gotten so used to it, I hope that when they find out what the problem is, they turn it into a on/off function instead of removing the glitch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash this:
http://db.tt/VH1iGNg
EDIT:
that is, if you want them to work.
Hi all!
I hope someone could help me,
My Desire Z touchscreen works weird, sometimes it does 2 unusual things:
-sometimes when trying to scroll it will zoom in or out like there is another finger there but there is not. If i run pointer location test, then it shows there is screenpress in the middle, but im not pressing it. the only way to fix it is to turn off the screen then turn back on.
-other times, the problem is similar, about 1/4 of the touchscreen in the middle/horizontal does not recive input. And the whole screen wont recognize touch correctly.
The problem happens mostly -but random- when i play games, or read pdf!
Is this problem related to the digitizer? I have tried more ROMs, the same problem. Not charging, no screen protector on the device, no break on glass.
Thanks in advance
Hi
I bought a new RHOD100 and am running Stock WinMo 6.5. First few days the phone worked beautiful. But about a week of usage landed me in this condition.
The screen only lights up with the keyboard is out and not tilted. Other than that, if it's slid in (portrait mode) or when it is tilted up, the screen freezes to whatever it was like when the keyboard was slid out. The touch functions work, I can hear screen tap sounds, and if I click on the right icon things open and close too, but the display remains frozen until I slide out the keyboard and/or undo the tilt.
Any ideas how to fix this? Is that hardware or software?
I have never dropped it, nor exaggerated the tilting.. Can it be the Flex cable?
Definitely hardware... almost 99.99999999% sure this issue is hardware.
I'm betting it is indeed the flex cable. If you're feeling brave, you can attempt to take the phone apart and see if you can find the issue - keep in mind, this is very delicate and tedious work. Need a steady/careful hand and a lot of space! Good tools help too .
http://www.ifixit.com/Device/HTC_Touch_Pro_2
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing-HTC-Touch-Pro-2-Display-Screen/5546/1
Hey guys. I love my epic and appreciate the site and forums. I switched from a old winmo 6.5 htc kjam to epic 4g and everything is greato far except for 1 issue. I have these these weird dead spots where if i was to use swype, i cant complete a word that required a lot of movements to characters closeer to the edges. Its kinda unusable because once i try to slide from say a letter Z to P somehow before it reaches P. I also have issues with different apps where im unable to click a button unless i switch from landscape to portrait and vice versa mostly buttons on the edge. On cm9 i have the setting to show a little white circle when your finger is on the screen and it looks like that white circle is not able to show up precisely where im pushing. This happens mostly on the edges and affects landscape swyping and both view modes when pushiong buttons to browser links. Kind of annoying so i been using voice typing or the keyboard as i need to use ssh a lot. Could there be a hardware issue with my screen like some sensor? I dont know the anatomy of an epic 4g but i know its never been dropped. Its not a huge deal but i would like to know if this is a common problem. I think but maybe its placebo but can it be cm9 because i do recall flashing the temp el30 rom to calibrate my screen when i noticed this problem. Calibration doesnt seem to help.