[Q] New to Glide - Questions - Samsung Captivate Glide

Sorry - I ran a couple of searches and skimmed a half dozen pages in each of the sub-sections - so apologies if I didn't find something obvious...
I like the Glide, have rooted it successfully and am more or less happy with it but for a couple of things. First, the camera doesn't seem as sharp as my Sony Xperia Ray, which is also an 8 mp and not even as good as the 5 mp on the Behold II. I have several camera apps, so I'll try out some of them - could be operator error, I guess. I do use auto settings most of the time - is there something I could set manually to see if that helps?
Also, the audio volume on calls seems fine but not so great on audio books or video files. Even with headphones. Are there any options - media players that can take it to 11 or maybe custom roms that might help?
Finally, it's been forever since I've had an AT&T phone - is there a list of safe to freeze/uninstall programs? I'd rather not flash a custom rom right unless I have to, since this is my main phone but I'd like to get the AT&T specific stuff out, since I'm using Straight Talk.
Thanks!

terryowen said:
Sorry - I ran a couple of searches and skimmed a half dozen pages in each of the sub-sections - so apologies if I didn't find something obvious...
I like the Glide, have rooted it successfully and am more or less happy with it but for a couple of things. First, the camera doesn't seem as sharp as my Sony Xperia Ray, which is also an 8 mp and not even as good as the 5 mp on the Behold II. I have several camera apps, so I'll try out some of them - could be operator error, I guess. I do use auto settings most of the time - is there something I could set manually to see if that helps?
Also, the audio volume on calls seems fine but not so great on audio books or video files. Even with headphones. Are there any options - media players that can take it to 11 or maybe custom roms that might help?
Finally, it's been forever since I've had an AT&T phone - is there a list of safe to freeze/uninstall programs? I'd rather not flash a custom rom right unless I have to, since this is my main phone but I'd like to get the AT&T specific stuff out, since I'm using Straight Talk.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Numbered for ease of reading
1. Megapixels do not indicate image quality. It simply means how big you can blow up an image without sacrificing clarity. There's a lot of factors that play into image quality, such as the sensor, f stop, aperture, lighting, etc. And yes, I've seen lower MP cameras produce better pictures than higher MP cameras. I suggest you research more on what makes a camera tick if you still have questions, or feel free to post here. Try messing around with the settings, if that helps... But don't expect crap pictures to look amazing with the flick of a setting.
2. Try any of the equalizers you can find online. Most people seem to like Beats, Volume+. There are many to choose from, including the ones already built into some players, such as the stock player. I personally like the DSP manager included with CM roms. It has a good amount of options, and can make even the worst headphones sound halfway decent.
3. Consult this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=22110205&postcount=131
found from the bottom of this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1621350
Read through that thread, as it's a great place to start if you're new to this device.
4. Welcome to the Glide

gtmaster303 said:
Numbered for ease of reading
1. Megapixels do not indicate image quality. It simply means how big you can blow up an image without sacrificing clarity. There's a lot of factors that play into image quality, such as the sensor, f stop, aperture, lighting, etc. And yes, I've seen lower MP cameras produce better pictures than higher MP cameras. I suggest you research more on what makes a camera tick if you still have questions, or feel free to post here. Try messing around with the settings, if that helps... But don't expect crap pictures to look amazing with the flick of a setting.
2. Try any of the equalizers you can find online. Most people seem to like Beats, Volume+. There are many to choose from, including the ones already built into some players, such as the stock player. I personally like the DSP manager included with CM roms. It has a good amount of options, and can make even the worst headphones sound halfway decent.
3. Consult this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=22110205&postcount=131
found from the bottom of this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1621350
Read through that thread, as it's a great place to start if you're new to this device.
4. Welcome to the Glide
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also numbering - for consistency...
1. Are you saying the Glide has a crap camera? I thought it was the same as the S2 and on gsmarena, the samples look better than the Ray. I guess I assumed that Samsung would have improved the camera between the 5 and 8 mp - but the Glide output seems very noisy when I look at the pictures on my PC. I care quite a lot about the camera quality and I know from past phones that software updates can often make a huge difference.
2. Thanks for the tips. Hopefully that will help the audio but you seem to infer that system wide (like for video) I need an updated rom?
3. Saw that post (searched for bloatware but only read the posts that seemed specific) and it links to a post about a deodexed rom zip file.
4. Thanks!
I hope I didn't sound too negative - I do like the Usb OTG and having a keyboard again. And I think the Glide meets the Mobile Ubuntu basic specs, so that might be interesting, too. I can even deal with the sound quality but the camera... well, we'll see, I guess.

I did buy Volume+ and it made a huge difference. Not with every video player but enough to make it worthwhile.

terryowen said:
Also numbering - for consistency...
1. Are you saying the Glide has a crap camera? I thought it was the same as the S2 and on gsmarena, the samples look better than the Ray. I guess I assumed that Samsung would have improved the camera between the 5 and 8 mp - but the Glide output seems very noisy when I look at the pictures on my PC. I care quite a lot about the camera quality and I know from past phones that software updates can often make a huge difference.
2. Thanks for the tips. Hopefully that will help the audio but you seem to infer that system wide (like for video) I need an updated rom?
3. Saw that post (searched for bloatware but only read the posts that seemed specific) and it links to a post about a deodexed rom zip file.
4. Thanks!
I hope I didn't sound too negative - I do like the Usb OTG and having a keyboard again. And I think the Glide meets the Mobile Ubuntu basic specs, so that might be interesting, too. I can even deal with the sound quality but the camera... well, we'll see, I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The captivate glide has a solid camera. Not the best, but also not the worst. Best camera phone I've had was my old MyTouch 4G Slide. It took better pictures than a GS3, and just about any other phone out there (on par with an iPhone 5). If you're rooted, just back up your phone and start deleting stuff. If it affects your daily routine, or you need something back, you can always restore. Either that or try a custom rom. But you can safely remove all the ATT branded apps, in addition to some other apps preinstalled. If you see what comes on an AOSP rom, you will get a better idea of what's necessary and what isn't.
terryowen said:
I did buy Volume+ and it made a huge difference. Not with every video player but enough to make it worthwhile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome :good:
I'm glad that worked out for you

Captivate Glide was built for businessmen, so you can't ask for a good camera or voice quality as the physical keyboard takes alot of spaces, but they are not crap, you can tweak the images with pixlr or line camera, worth a try

tienlp said:
Captivate Glide was built for businessmen, so you can't ask for a good camera or voice quality as the physical keyboard takes alot of spaces, but they are not crap, you can tweak the images with pixlr or line camera, worth a try
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I concur, the call quality is surprisingly bad. Voices sound muffled overall

I used to think that glide has a crap camera and i tried various camera apps to have an improvement. Some xda users just let me focus on how to use it correctly and they suggested me to simply use the stock camera app being careful and focusing on staying stable and use the focus function (it is to say, tapping on the screen to make the frame get green).
I have to say that after a few tries it actually worked. I used to think that camera was poor but i can get very good pics now, and they're good when i download them on pc as well. It's all up to you and your stillness in taking the photo.
Hope it helps.

gtmaster303 said:
I concur, the call quality is surprisingly bad. Voices sound muffled overall
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Strange, my calling sound is normal, maybe this is because of the firmware or the network

After a month or so with the Glide, I've compensated for some of the problems with the Volume+ and Wake Lock, which keeps it from dying at times, especially overnight and draining the battery. I still have issues with staying connected to wifi, which the various keep-alive programs I've downloaded so far haven't helped much (miss having a radio, internet radio with wifi issues isn't fun).
The camera seems to be helped a lot when I use the various scene modes, which I rarely used on other phones (other than macro). Not sure why the automatic is so awful but if I pick the right scene, things turn out much better. I already owned Pro HDR Camera, so when it took better pictures than the automatic I knew it was possible, at least.
The Glide was always going to be an interim phone, unless the Ubuntu thing works out, so I'm okay with it now that things are stabilized. It doesn't say much for Samsung's quality that there are so many issues, but with the keyboard being practically extinct, they have a built-in market.

Related

Jello effect w/ video recording. Why hasn't this got more attention?

(can't post links still)
youtube[dot]com/watch?v=gymA26jqtTQ
It's really the only thing that's stopping me from buying the Galaxy Nexus. In my opinion the Galaxy Nexus can't take video if that's what it's producing. Anyone here a photography master of sorts that can shed some light on this issue?
Through my research I've found that the jello effect caused by a rolling shutter can be fixed in post production, but is something like this fixable via software/firmware on the phone?
What's going on? It's a bit shocking that nobody is concerned about this issue.
are you serious? "what's going on?"
it's quite obviously image stabilisation.
The sensor basically just relays data, OMAP camera hardware interface process it (stabilisation etc...) and Android presents, maybe tweaks it a bit and saves it.
So an eventual "fix" would be in OMAP firmware, not Android right?
Sent from my V9 using XDA App
saster2 said:
The sensor basically just relays data, OMAP camera hardware interface process it (stabilisation etc...) and Android presents, maybe tweaks it a bit and saves it.
So an eventual "fix" would be in OMAP, not Android right?
Sent from my V9 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know, but there is an option in Google Talk to change image stabilisation effect.
I have the same thing,but I think that it is image stabilization.
I've just replicated this issue and must say.. I'm totally not bothered! The image stabilisation is actually pretty good and the ony time i can make it do this is if I jiggle the camera... unless youre planning on trying to mock up an earthquake effect, I dont see this being an action you would do. In fact, due to the good image stabilisation, its pretty hard to do this jiggle accidentally, you must be quite determined to create this "jelly" effect (I'm in the UK, hence I get a jelly effect, not jello )
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091124183445AA8XEj5
If you don't want to read, its because it uses a CMOS sensor. Affects cell phones and DSLRs alike. Hardware related.
oscillik said:
are you serious? "what's going on?"
it's quite obviously image stabilisation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
May I ask what makes you so sure?
The video effect shown in the original post and in others if you look, mirrors exactly that of the "jello effect" caused by a rolling shutter, i.e. the sensor, more importantly, CMOS sensors. From what I've found: all cameras, even professional DSLR's have this "jello effect" caused by rolling shutters on CMOS sensors. The only, and most common fix I've found is to edit the video in post production.
It's not quite obviously image stabilization considering how this issue is reproduced in the exact same scenario a rolling shutter w/ CMOS sensor would to create the jello effect. Otherwise the issue would occur all the time and not only when panning quickly. The video below should explain.
youtube[dot]com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ITkLwVgxo98#t=61s
This may not be the best example, but it should show you what I am talking about. Others like this can be found by doing a simple Google or YouTube search.
The problem is oscillik is both a) incorrect, and b) an asshole. A dangerous combination to be sure!
couchapple said:
The problem is oscillik is both a) incorrect, and b) an asshole. A dangerous combination to be sure!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL, funny stuff.
I know what rolling shutter effect on CMOS based cameras is. This looks more excessive than rolling shutter, and looks more like image stabilisation.
People really need to stop thinking that SmartPhones are the end all be all. Unless a phone is specifically dedicated for a camera as it's main feature, then of course people should be concerned.
People here really plan on shooting lots of hd video with their phone? If quality really matters a dedicated camera would be better served...from what I can see this is pretty trivial. Then again, the only thing I take video of is dyno runs and fun in bed...
Again not hardware involved!!!
I`m N00B in this forum but i was being for a 4 months downloading roms, from here, so hi everybody....
for this treati have a reply: ITS NOT THE CAMERA ROLLING SHUTTER, ACTUALLY IS THE CAMERA APP!!!!
from the same channel, the same guy, the same galaxy nexus, but different app:
www(dot)youtube(DOT)com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=SFSLnjqIssY
A WAY BETTER...
i saw the noob video, here in xda you have a great group of trollz,
Roxxer_x46 said:
I`m N00B in this forum but i was being for a 4 months downloading roms, from here, so hi everybody....
for this treati have a reply: ITS NOT THE CAMERA ROLLING SHUTTER, ACTUALLY IS THE CAMERA APP!!!!
from the same channel, the same guy, the same galaxy nexus, but different app:
www(dot)youtube(DOT)com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=SFSLnjqIssY
A WAY BETTER...
i saw the noob video, here in xda you have a great group of trollz,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome! Glad to see this fixed, and nice find by the way. An update to the default camera app will come I'm sure. Until then this essentially fixed the problem, whatever it was, if image stabilization, I stand corrected.
it is image stabilisation, as has been proven by the fact that using another application gets rid of it.
Roxxer_x46 said:
I`m N00B in this forum but i was being for a 4 months downloading roms, from here, so hi everybody....
for this treati have a reply: ITS NOT THE CAMERA ROLLING SHUTTER, ACTUALLY IS THE CAMERA APP!!!!
from the same channel, the same guy, the same galaxy nexus, but different app:
www(dot)youtube(DOT)com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=SFSLnjqIssY
A WAY BETTER...
i saw the noob video, here in xda you have a great group of trollz,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would be nice if this comparison could be done using the software mentioned above...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyRxJ5zKSO8&sns=em
Sent from my V9 using XDA App
Here's a 1080p video I took at a Football stadium. Big game, I luckily shot the only goal at Arsenal Vs Man City on Tuesday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxsdD7iPpnM&feature=g-all
I tried using the LGCamera app mentioned in the YouTube post but it crashes on launch. Has anyone else had any luck?
GSM version running 4.01.
I use 720p because of the 30fps. 1080p is 24fps on the Gnex.
No thanks to 24fps.
That explains why image stabilization is having a hard time at stabilizing the image at that resolution at the frame rate.
I think image stabilization works best at higher frame rates.
My two cents.
Having said that, I do feel rolling shutter is a underrated issue with smart phones and point and shot. I would much rather have 720p without rolling shutter than 1080p with in.
I think post processing like deshaker is some cool stuff too. There are some really cool videos on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaPNf2Rk4qQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX2v73SOqMk
If they could do deshaking in realtime and eliminate rolling shutting... That would be cool. Some day.

Camcorder sound quality horrible. Igcamera settings?

By now we all know our live sound recording at concerts completely sucks. It sounds like muffled garbage which nullifies the point of even whipping out the ol' e4gt to record and brag to your friends later :/ I've read up and down the boards about the ig/lgcamera app on the market. I was wondering if anyone had luck in obtaining correct ig/lgcamcorder settings to achieve better sound quality? If so mind posting? I've sat w/ the app for about an hour trying all sorts of toggles. All I ever seem to see on the screen, more often than not, is some "Recording failed" BS or I have to toggle between filters before the screen unfreezes. I have 6 major concerts I'm attending this month and would really love to have better vid clips with great audio you can actually understand. Any help here would be greatly appreciated! Thanx in advance XDA Community.
our phone can only record as good as the microphone it has can record.. thats like asking how we can make a 2mp camera take 8mp quality images by just installing another camera app
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
Yeah the microphone sucks. I went to Iron Maiden last Friday and the sound of the videos suck.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
elliwigy said:
our phone can only record as good as the microphone it has can record.. thats like asking how we can make a 2mp camera take 8mp quality images by just installing another camera app
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely understand where you're coming from and do appreciate the input, but we can all overclock our phone with a quick updated kernel and 3rd party apps like Tegrak or SetCPU, can't we? . Have you at least read up on, or tested igcamera/camcorder before just saying it's impossible? I'm just playing devil's advocate here b/c I know lgcamcorder allows you to change the audio recording freq/rate which, in theory, will allow better audio recording inside videos I've also heard that plugging in an external mic with other apps will work too, but I haven't tried.
Update: Thanks to RubberBigPepper! He's got the latest working LGCamera app here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1677645 . After installing the apk I recorded parts of Metallica - And Justice For All a few times (JBL speakers @ 100% incl. system sound) with stock camcorder vs. lgcamcorder (changed audio encoder to AAC, Audio sample rate to 48000 and Audio bitrate to 320000). LG won that contest hands down. Don't take my word for it, check it out yourselves. I don't have a data cable w/me atm so I'll upload my comparison in a few hours.
thats because our phones hardware is able to be overclocked to a certain extent and the kernel we need because the stock kernel doesnt have the ability to be tweaked.. but hey, if you got an improvement by using a different camera and bitrate then awesome lol. i still dont think its going to sound as clear as you want it at a live recording but hopefully its at least decent for ya.. i personally NEVER use my camera for anything lol so good to know tweaking it can help somewhat
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
This goes along with my idea, AOKP, MIUI, and CM9 cameras function better than any TW (IMO). I say this because their ability to process light seems to be slightly more advanced, though not as advanced as the iPhone which has a far superior camera application. If the settings can be tweaked to grasp certain things in images e.g. light, exposure, focus...then why can't settings be implemented in order to achieve the same thing via camcorder? If there is an ability to mess with settings that enhance cetains audio features then the sound quality should improve. I'm interested in seing what others have to say.
elliwigy said:
thats because our phones hardware is able to be overclocked to a certain extent and the kernel we need because the stock kernel doesnt have the ability to be tweaked.. but hey, if you got an improvement by using a different camera and bitrate then awesome lol. i still dont think its going to sound as clear as you want it at a live recording but hopefully its at least decent for ya.. i personally NEVER use my camera for anything lol so good to know tweaking it can help somewhat
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in agreeance with ya man. And yes, obviously we can only go so far with what hardware is provided to us. I just annoys me that we have an iphone killer but ****ty sound qual. in camcorder. I just hate to lose bragging rights when I'm next to a friend w/an iDevice comparing vids:/
modifidious said:
I'm in agreeance with ya man. And yes, obviously we can only go so far with what hardware is provided to us. I just annoys me that we have an iphone killer but ****ty sound qual. in camcorder. I just hate to lose bragging rights when I'm next to a friend w/an iDevice comparing vids:/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Comparing quality of video/photos, you will lose every time (very few exceptions) the software is specific and until the auto features are pulled and implemented in to our devices then the picture quality will be better. I don't see where they win with sound qaulity though, background noise is a main factor on our device for me....does any here have the s3? if so can they confirm whether or not video audio is the same, maybe pulling that .apk and having some edits on the build prop would impose better values, hardware permitting! Just an idea.
hooover said:
Comparing quality of video/photos, you will lose every time (very few exceptions) the software is specific and until the auto features are pulled and implemented in to our devices then the picture quality will be better. I don't see where they win with sound qaulity though, background noise is a main factor on our device for me....does any here have the s3? if so can they confirm whether or not video audio is the same, maybe pulling that .apk and having some edits on the build prop would impose better values, hardware permitting! Just an idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
<<<goosebumps just thinking about the possibility of that cam being ported heck Beats was blended with DSP and ported!
As far as comparison goes: I've stood side-by-side with friends at concerts, my E4GT vs. their iPhone 4s, and recorded the same video shots. My audio was absolute garbage, not one lyrics clear. iPhone 4s however was crystal...
modifidious said:
<<<goosebumps just thinking about the possibility of that cam being ported heck Beats was blended with DSP and ported!
As far as comparison goes: I've stood side-by-side with friends at concerts, my E4GT vs. their iPhone 4s, and recorded the same video shots. My audio was absolute garbage, not one lyrics clear. iPhone 4s however was crystal...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah..no we can't allot that happen. Wouldn't want people to think an iPhones decent would we. Not I
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
krisI0N said:
Yeah..no we can't allot that happen. Wouldn't want people to think an iPhones decent would we. Not I
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly, it's just absolutely unacceptable I've been w/ Android since the G1 went on presale back in the day, yo! I've got at least a dozen Apple lifers to make the switch to "'Droid". I hate selling ish and sounding like a billboard... I don't believe in it, but dammit! Our EG4T will still hold us over 'til the SGS4 comes out (in what I predict will be Spring). I live in J-ville, FL and we don't have LTE so the only benefit of upgrading to SGS3 is a faster 3g, which is irrelevant to me since I'm always on WiFi. Anywho.... LONG LIVE ANDROID, XDA, and OPENSOURCE T3CH!
I love how people come in with possibly unrelated reasons like oh we can overclock so we should be able to this and that.
About the only thing your going to be able to do here is have someone mod the camera app for a higher data rate and its at 61 kbps. Being a Mono mic that is NOT as bad as it sounds. Being Mono you need only half the data rate for the same quality. So 61 kbps is around the same as 128 which would be considered decent for AAC. If you can get that to 96 or even 128 your going to have the equivalent of 192 to 256 kbps data rates you normally use for stereo.
Sure if the sampling rate is turned down artificially you might be able to fix that. Its at 44,100 now which is fine. Max sample rate is going to be physically tied to the analog to digital converter chip.
If the mic is physically cutting out a certain frequencies and sound levels there is absolutely jack you can do about it except change it physically and you dont really know its properties as is might make selection a little more blind. Most cheap microphones are going to cut out with loud music and fail to record any bass at all. Mics that size in the 2,500 dollar range still have their own issues
Well did some testing noticed some things changing the settings for the AOSP camera versus my old stock camera recordings.
By default the aosp camera audio setting is set to 128Kbps stereo and 48,000hz. It seems the 48,000hz sticks but the audio caps out at 96 Kbps. So that said there seems to be some improvement to be had versus the stock camera application. As per my previous post this is in comparison to 44,100hz and 61 Kbps. I tried 96,000hz for kicks it does not work. AOSP has 2 channels enabled unlike stock but setting it to 1 or 2 doesnt have too much effect. I will have to test but if its writing 2 channels of mono audio it might be harmful to the quality since the overall bitrate is for both channels.
EDIT - The settings for the aosp camera vary wildly on our CM9 builds it seems every few days someone has changed this or that or maybe the source file has i do not know.
I have a friend at work with the S3.. We went to a concert together and the S3 audio was only about 25% better.. Samsung has crappy mics in their phones.. However I have a Samsung Samsung HMX-U20 hand held pocket cam and the sound recording at any concert is simply amazing.. But hate having to bring two devices to events.
changlo said:
I have a friend at work with the S3.. We went to a concert together and the S3 audio was only about 25% better.. Samsung has crappy mics in their phones.. However I have a Samsung Samsung HMX-U20 hand held pocket cam and the sound recording at any concert is simply amazing.. But hate having to bring two devices to events.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the update on the S3, glad I didn't get roped in and am waiting on the S4

Newman K1

I recently purchased the Newman K1
Does anyone know how to root it?
Does anyone how to install the original android 4.2rom on this, it came with lewa OS4.2 installed
Thanks for your help
ok
Ηas anyone bought this phone so we can have some general presentation?
A slightly late reply. I've been using the Freelander branded version of this phone (Freelander i30) as my main device for the past month and a half, and I'm pretty impressed: it's the first Chinese phone I've used where everything works without much hassle, including GPS. Camera is also decent by normal standards, and perfectly usable for snapshots.
Its main drawback is limited 3G support, as only the 2100 frequency is supported. A couple other very minor annoyances are the digitizer grid which can be seen in direct sunlight by turning the phone at a certain angle, the tendency of the screen to get dirty, and the average in-call audio quality. They don't pose a problem in use, in fact I bet most owners won't even notice them.
As for the rest, it's pretty great: the screen is very bright with good viewing angles colors and contrast; signal reception is ok, about the same as most other phones I had; firmware support is excellent, with two official ROMs (plain Android and Lewa) and frequent updates; GPS is very quick to fix and usually gets to 5m precision; audio quality through the headphone jack is pretty good, even usable by audiophile standards. Battery life is great, with moderate use I can do more than 3 days, heavy use a full day with something to spare.
For its price it's a very good phone, with good community support (there's an excellent thread on 4pda with English recoveries, custom ROMs, etc.). If you have any questions just ask and I'll try to answer them.
ludoo said:
A slightly late reply. I've been using the Freelander branded version of this phone (Freelander i30) as my main device for the past month and a half, and I'm pretty impressed: it's the first Chinese phone I've used where everything works without much hassle, including GPS. Camera is also decent by normal standards, and perfectly usable for snapshots.
Its main drawback is limited 3G support, as only the 2100 frequency is supported. A couple other very minor annoyances are the digitizer grid which can be seen in direct sunlight by turning the phone at a certain angle, the tendency of the screen to get dirty, and the average in-call audio quality. They don't pose a problem in use, in fact I bet most owners won't even notice them.
As for the rest, it's pretty great: the screen is very bright with good viewing angles colors and contrast; signal reception is ok, about the same as most other phones I had; firmware support is excellent, with two official ROMs (plain Android and Lewa) and frequent updates; GPS is very quick to fix and usually gets to 5m precision; audio quality through the headphone jack is pretty good, even usable by audiophile standards. Battery life is great, with moderate use I can do more than 3 days, heavy use a full day with something to spare.
For its price it's a very good phone, with good community support (there's an excellent thread on 4pda with English recoveries, custom ROMs, etc.). If you have any questions just ask and I'll try to answer them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you tell me that you have found 2 roms you mention?
You mean where have I found them? Sure
Newman K1 ROMs are released on the Newman BBS (forum) in this thread, they can also be found on the 4PDA thread in the formware section.
If instead you meant if I like them, the Lewa ROM is beautiful and very well done, but I prefer stock Android. They both work very well, rooting is easy with motochopper.
ludoo said:
You mean where have I found them? Sure
Newman K1 ROMs are released on the Newman BBS (forum) in this thread, they can also be found on the 4PDA thread in the formware section.
If instead you meant if I like them, the Lewa ROM is beautiful and very well done, but I prefer stock Android. They both work very well, rooting is easy with motochopper.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and 2 Forum that suggest it is in non-intelligible languages for me, is there some topik here on xda or some anyway in English;
What's wrong with google translate?
Sent from my Newman K1 using Tapatalk 2
ludoo said:
What's wrong with google translate?
Sent from my Newman K1 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is one solution ...
ludoo said:
A slightly late reply. I've been using the Freelander branded version of this phone (Freelander i30) as my main device for the past month and a half, and I'm pretty impressed: it's the first Chinese phone I've used where everything works without much hassle, including GPS. Camera is also decent by normal standards, and perfectly usable for snapshots.
Its main drawback is limited 3G support, as only the 2100 frequency is supported. A couple other very minor annoyances are the digitizer grid which can be seen in direct sunlight by turning the phone at a certain angle, the tendency of the screen to get dirty, and the average in-call audio quality. They don't pose a problem in use, in fact I bet most owners won't even notice them.
As for the rest, it's pretty great: the screen is very bright with good viewing angles colors and contrast; signal reception is ok, about the same as most other phones I had; firmware support is excellent, with two official ROMs (plain Android and Lewa) and frequent updates; GPS is very quick to fix and usually gets to 5m precision; audio quality through the headphone jack is pretty good, even usable by audiophile standards. Battery life is great, with moderate use I can do more than 3 days, heavy use a full day with something to spare.
For its price it's a very good phone, with good community support (there's an excellent thread on 4pda with English recoveries, custom ROMs, etc.). If you have any questions just ask and I'll try to answer them.
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Click to collapse
That's great, thanks for your input. It's been a nightmare trying to find any community support for this phone (in English anyway!). I've just ordered this from Merimobiles. When you mention about the screen getting dirty quite easily, do you mean smudge marks easily appear or that dirt gets easily trapped at the sides of the screen ? And how average is the audio quality, is it fairly difficult to understand what someone is saying or is the clarity just missing ? Thanks
georger010 said:
That's great, thanks for your input. It's been a nightmare trying to find any community support for this phone (in English anyway!). I've just ordered this from Merimobiles. When you mention about the screen getting dirty quite easily, do you mean smudge marks easily appear or that dirt gets easily trapped at the sides of the screen ? And how average is the audio quality, is it fairly difficult to understand what someone is saying or is the clarity just missing ? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I mean by saying the screen gets easily dirty is that it's pretty easy to leave smudges on it and they are less easily wiped without some sort of liquid (water is fine), as if it was missing an oleophobic coating or had a very weak one. From reading around it's a common issue with most Chinese phones, I guess they save a few pennies by using a weak/no coating. It's not a big issue, especially if you use a screen protector or even if you don't like me, I just clean it more often than other phones I had. You could also try a "diy" coating, there are threads by people using car wax or windshield water repellent liquids.
The audio is ok, now I don't even notice anything during calls. I only noticed it when switching from the Jiayu G3, which had better call quality. You won't probably notice anything out of place. I'm also using a more recent baseband than the stock one, from a Zopo phone using the same chipset (here, flash with cwm or copy modem.img to /etc/firmware then chmod 644) which seems to have improved things, but maybe it's just placebo.
All in all it's a pretty great phone. I installed the latest LewaOS from early June and it's super smooth, and beautiful. A bit bloated, but nothing that can't be remedied by deleting a few apks from /system/app.
---------- Post added at 11:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:31 AM ----------
PS - as for community support, there's an excellent thread on the Russian 4pda forum, split into a discussion thread and a firmware thread. You can use google translator and understand most of it, and there are links to all the drivers and ROMs in the firmware thread.
To download software just register, again using google translator. The only apparently difficult part is entering the captcha, but in practice you don't need to type cyrillic characters, just enter the sum of the two numbers displayed.
Another useful thread might be the one I started on the Italian androidiani forum, just search google for "newman k1 androidiani", in the first post I have collected a few useful links. Again, google translator allows you to grasp what you need.
I recently received my Newman k1. It is a very good phone, all works well. The only problem are the speakers:they're not bad, they're just not loud enough.
I have not missed any call because of it, anyway. Sorry for my bad English.
Sent from my Newman K1 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
You can tweak audio levels from the engineer menu, search on google there are lots of threads on how to do it as it's the same process for all mediatek phones.
Sent from my Newman K1 using Tapatalk 2
ludoo said:
You can tweak audio levels from the engineer menu, search on google there are lots of threads on how to do it as it's the same process for all mediatek phones.
Sent from my Newman K1 using Tapatalk 2
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Give if you want more info or link
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Ηi Ludoo
you use this application https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobileuncle.toolbox below to increase the volume and if so can you give us the prices;
paiktaras said:
Ηi Ludoo
you use this application https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobileuncle.toolbox below to increase the volume and if so can you give us the prices;
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Prices for what???
ludoo said:
Prices for what???
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sorry for my bad english, units I meant
google "mobileuncle volume levels"...
anyone have the newest lewaos rom from lewaos forum?
Brief Newman K1 and Affiliates
paiktaras said:
Ηas anyone bought this phone so we can have some general presentation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:good:Newman K1/K1A/K1W in black, white, black/white
MTK6589
Depending on whre you buy it from they ship either the K1, K1A (labled as K1W), and as K1A panda under the name "Newsmy" Panda
K1 has 5 inch screen / K1A/W is 5.3 inches, though they share the exact specs, so any mods for one goes for the other. From what i had translated on their CHINESE forum, http://bbs.newamn.mobi, one is referred to the K1 area for flash, tweaks, ROMS, etc. Google does an OK job translating, you can get the general idea, but those Chinese characters, Whew! Pre-rooted from http://merimobiles.com (all their items are pre-rooted).
Onto the phone as a device for use, its a great device to start out with for tweaks and adjustments. The 5.3 screen is large enough to clearly see, The LEWA ROM is very smooth and though some say bloated, any apk's can be removed. Just do your research before making any adjustments.So yeah, smooth ROM out of the box. Simple font, based on android 4.2.1 though some options are in different places. Sound wise, it needs work, the headphone level is loud enough for inside listening but low enough to get drowned out by NYC traffic. As stated on other threads, this can be fixed..http://http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2248396. The screen can easily be scratched, it is thinly coated, and might do well with a DIY method or a screen protector. The memory leaves to desire however. They market it as having 1 g RAM//4gb Rom but its only a 2 gb ROM of which 1.5 is taken up by the OS. An external SD is a must, just got to Settings>Storage> and chose save to SD and SD for internal memory. You should be fine then.CAMERA is 8 mp main/ 2 mp front. Camera quality is good on this phone. Clear crisp, natural looking pictures in daylight. Flash is too bright.Audio is good quality, suitable for most, though not Sony. It will run on T-mobile/ATT in the USA but only at 2g speeds through EDGE/GSM/GPRS. If your texting and phone calls, your fine and may be settled. If its internet browsing, then its a bit slow to load. I use a VOIP program with Google voice to make free calls over WIFI. WIFI and Bluetooth connectivity is excellent. GPS locks in within 1 minute max, though better positioning may be had by a window. MTK 6589 chips are known for their poor GPS signals, and though even though its not a 6589T chip, it still works fine.
Any further questions, please ask...

[Q] cyanogen mod on S4. Camera photo quality downgraded?

Well I'm gonna get straight to the point. Cyanogenmod has downgraded the camera on my Galaxy S4. Photos are significantly noisier and overall lacking in the photo department. I went to Best buy to compare a stock S4 to my CyanogenMod S4 and right there and then my worries were confirmed. Is there any way to keep cyanogen mod and get back the awesome camera quality of the stock S4? The camera downgrade is really getting on my last nerve.
It was the CyanogenMod installed through the play store BTW..
You got a few options
1) ditch CM all together, and use a GPE rom. This is AOSP built by samsung and google. It does not have any of the issues CM has.
now.. some "RDs" on this site insist that the GPE edition roms are TW based, simply because they use the same kernels - this is not true. An adroid 4.3 kernel will work on a 4.3 rom, be it touchwiz, or aosp, and same with Android 4.4
I personally run VirginROM 2.5.4 with a custom kernel that is not allowed on XDA, and my stability is 100%, battery life lasts about 2 or so day with moderate use, and audio/video (what there kernels are known for) rock. These kernels do not overclock, but excel over others that do overclock when it comes to performance.
2) compile the focal camera app yourself and deal with all the CM issues, flaws, and "hybrid" merges...
3) purchased/download a 3rd party app from the google play store
shadowcandy said:
Well I'm gonna get straight to the point. Cyanogenmod has downgraded the camera on my Galaxy S4. Photos are significantly noisier and overall lacking in the photo department. I went to Best buy to compare a stock S4 to my CyanogenMod S4 and right there and then my worries were confirmed. Is there any way to keep cyanogen mod and get back the awesome camera quality of the stock S4? The camera downgrade is really getting on my last nerve.
It was the CyanogenMod installed through the play store BTW..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off, no kidding. This did not need a new thread to be discussed. There are literally a thousand posts abotu camera quality with CM ROMS on the various S4 variant forums. Any search at all would have shown you the answer. Here's an example with posts from less than a week ago that explains this throughly.
Second, if this gets on your last nerve, get rid of CM and return to stock. This is the price of using CM. The camera isn't as good. Complaining about it and acting like CM owes you a better camera is downright rude to the CM team who gives you their ROM for free out of a desire to give a gift to the world. They don't owe you a thing.
The short version to your question abotu getting the CM camera back is simply no.
The long version is...
The issue with the camera in AOSP ROMS is that the stock TouchWiz camera has all kinds of proprietary software driving it. That software is built into different parts of the rom and absolutely requires the TouchWiz framework to run. (Which is also proprietary). You can't just pull the APK out of TouchWiz and install it on AOSP.
So there is no way to get the stock TW camera to run on any AOSP rom.
This means that any other app that is using the camera is using generic software to run the camera hardware. This leaves out the ability to do things that the TW software was specifically written to do like crisp auto focus and color depth and all those goodies that make the TW camera better. All that software was written specificly for the S4 hardware.
The Cyanogen camera or the Google stock camera is just an app using generic software not written specificly for this phone's camera hardware. That's no different than ANY other camera you can find on Google Play. They are ALL using generic software.
As a result, none of them are every going to be as crisp as the TouchWiz camera software. They almost all still take a really good picture with this phone, and many give various effects you might enjoy, but if you are looking the actual stock camera app that takes a higher resolution, better focused picture than the CM camera, you're not going to be able to do it.
Even with all that, the S4 camera hardware with CM camera software It's still better than most other phones on the market.
At the end of the day, it's not a camera that makes phone calls. It's a phone that has a camera in it. If photography is that big of a deal to you, you're never going to be happy with anything other than a true SLR. There's nothing wrong with that, mind you. But please stop complaining about the quality of the free ROM that har dworking developers put together in their spare time and gave to you as a gift with no questions or strings atatched.
Well Said !!
I appreciate the way you explained. :good:
Skipjacks said:
First off, no kidding. This did not need a new thread to be discussed. There are literally a thousand posts abotu camera quality with CM ROMS on the various S4 variant forums. Any search at all would have shown you the answer. Here's an example with posts from less than a week ago that explains this throughly.
Second, if this gets on your last nerve, get rid of CM and return to stock. This is the price of using CM. The camera isn't as good. Complaining about it and acting like CM owes you a better camera is downright rude to the CM team who gives you their ROM for free out of a desire to give a gift to the world. They don't owe you a thing.
The short version to your question abotu getting the CM camera back is simply no.
The long version is...
The issue with the camera in AOSP ROMS is that the stock TouchWiz camera has all kinds of proprietary software driving it. That software is built into different parts of the rom and absolutely requires the TouchWiz framework to run. (Which is also proprietary). You can't just pull the APK out of TouchWiz and install it on AOSP.
So there is no way to get the stock TW camera to run on any AOSP rom.
This means that any other app that is using the camera is using generic software to run the camera hardware. This leaves out the ability to do things that the TW software was specifically written to do like crisp auto focus and color depth and all those goodies that make the TW camera better. All that software was written specificly for the S4 hardware.
The Cyanogen camera or the Google stock camera is just an app using generic software not written specificly for this phone's camera hardware. That's no different than ANY other camera you can find on Google Play. They are ALL using generic software.
As a result, none of them are every going to be as crisp as the TouchWiz camera software. They almost all still take a really good picture with this phone, and many give various effects you might enjoy, but if you are looking the actual stock camera app that takes a higher resolution, better focused picture than the CM camera, you're not going to be able to do it.
Even with all that, the S4 camera hardware with CM camera software It's still better than most other phones on the market.
At the end of the day, it's not a camera that makes phone calls. It's a phone that has a camera in it. If photography is that big of a deal to you, you're never going to be happy with anything other than a true SLR. There's nothing wrong with that, mind you. But please stop complaining about the quality of the free ROM that har dworking developers put together in their spare time and gave to you as a gift with no questions or strings atatched.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Anyone knows how to get the Stock G4 Camera app?

Hello!
Yesterday I flashed CyanogenMod on my G4 H815 and just before the phone rebooted, I realized that I won't have the mega-awesome Camera app from LG. So does anyone know if there is any apk or any way to get it? To mention, I didn't backup my device because... because.
Thank you!
Probably won't work even if you get the apk, since most OEM specific apps need OEM specific framework to run. I think the only way to have it working on CM would be to port it. But why would you want that anyway? The image quality won't really change. It's not that much dependant on the app but rather the drivers running the camera.
nitrous² said:
Probably won't work even if you get the apk, since most OEM specific apps need OEM specific framework to run. I think the only way to have it working on CM would be to port it. But why would you want that anyway? The image quality won't really change. It's not that much dependant on the app but rather the drivers running the camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not necessary the image quality, but the flexibility you have with that app (manual focus, iso, exposure time, etc.). I hope there is a way to use that app. While I was searching for it I found that there is the G4 Camera app ported for G3, so I am thinking that there could be the original app somewhere..
Thanks!
It's not possible right now. There have been efforts to port it, but nothing has come out of it yet. There are however other apps that are pretty good. And the CM stock camera app only misses the HDR and Manual settings. The quality otherwise is similar
xdag4 said:
It's not possible right now. There have been efforts to port it, but nothing has come out of it yet. There are however other apps that are pretty good. And the CM stock camera app only misses the HDR and Manual settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there are 3rd party apps that should work for manual setting but your max shutter won't exceed 0.7s. This is the already the case with the stock firmware and 3rd party camera apps.
There is something called night shot which the G4 resorts to very often especially with the front camera. that will be gone. Selfies ain't going to be as good. it's also used for the rear in lower light. Though a longer exposure will produce better images. night shot is a convenience when you don't want to set up on a tripod.
The quality otherwise is similar
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How can you tell ?
it requires a side by side in full resolution with 2 G4's one with stock & CM under varying lighting. Lots of comparisons like that.
How good is the Cm camera in auto ? that's one of the strengths of the stock G4 camera.
Does the Cm camera make use of the colour sensor at all.
Except for the 30s exposure there is nothing special about that app, just use Proshot and you will be far better, cancel noise reduction make dngs and you have better shots
One Twelve said:
How can you tell ?
it requires a side by side in full resolution with 2 G4's one with stock & CM under varying lighting. Lots of comparisons like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can tell because I have seen photos from both cameras (on the computer). And if you really need 2 separate G4s under the same conditions side by side to tell the difference then there is not much difference. It's the audio bitrate debate all over again.
I am not saying it's as good as with stock but similar in most situations. I miss the HDR feature because it helps in low light situations.
One Twelve said:
I can tell because I have seen photos from both cameras (on the computer).
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Click to collapse
Can you post links to examples of photos taken with cm camera ?
saw a few in the g4 community but the max resolution was just 2.4MP, need to be full resolution.
The low light shots on auto were crap. The G4 is a low light shooter in stock auto.
And if you really need 2 separate G4s under the same conditions side by side to tell the difference then there is not much difference. It's the audio bitrate debate all over again.
I am not saying it's as good as with stock but similar in most situations. I miss the HDR feature because it helps in low light situations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Such are the requirements for a clinching argument. otherwise its based on faith.
if people want to go down this route they need to know what they will be losing.
---------- Post added at 06:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:20 PM ----------
ObiDanKenobi said:
Except for the 30s exposure there is nothing special about that app, just use Proshot and you will be far better, cancel noise reduction make dngs and you have better shots
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
heh, anything from 0.5s UP TO 30s isn't possible.
I would be very sceptical about replacing stock with cm camera until i see plenty of examples with cm.
Also bear in mind that vendors keep a very tight lock on their cameras and don't share much with 3rd parties. yeah you can use a 3rd party app in some circumstances but you can never replace the stock camera in all situations. This stock cmaera that can challenge the likes of smasung and is touted as a major selling point of the G4. Yeah, i say its pretty special.
Which is a requirement to any one considering the CM path.
What i'm reading here is if you want CM then you don't care too much about the camera to begin with. That would not surprise me as people that are good with roms don't tend to be very good with camera and vice versa. it's rare to find both those skill sets in people.

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