(Multiplatform) REVIEW: TiVi - a multiplatform video (!) phone application - General Topics

Because of the huge prices of traditional (non-Internet-based) video phoning services, several Symbian users have been praising TiVi, a VoIP app / service with video phoning and, at least on Symbian, front camera support capabilities. As it also has a Windows Mobile version, I gave it a very thorough, three-platform (desktop Windows, Symbian and Windows Mobile) ride to find out what it's really capable of.
1.1 Registration, Web page
Fortunately, using the service for TiVi - TiVi connections is absolutely free (as opposed to what some people state in some Symbian forums) and works over fully (on both sides) firewalled connections. To being able to reach your buddies, you'll need to register a nickname on the central server. This is pretty easy and can be done HERE.
You'll also need to download the client software; it's available for the desktop HERE and for mobile platforms HERE. Install it; after starting it, press the left softkeys on both mobile platforms and go to Config. There, fill in your login name / password. After this, you'll become available for the others; using your nick instead of a "traditional" number will work when calling you. Note that it also has a built-in Contacts list and also has access to the system-level contacts, offering (of course, non-free - as opposed to in-network calls) dial-out capabilities for them.
Note that the page and the service themselves are pretty far away from being professional. Latvian is used on some both the Web pages (even when using English) and, which is even worse, in the answering machine. This, of course, isn't that problematic, particularly if you speak some Slavonic language because, then, you'll understand at least the last two words of the answering machine message and can deduce what takes place. And, it's only in the first occasion that this can cause any kind of confusion.
1.2 Screenshots
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(a Symbian shot showing the output of the HTC Universal - that is, the Nokia itself, me trying very hard to make a screenshot on it. In the upper left corner, you can also see Nokia's own camera image (of the Universal, with 180 degrees rotated screen, in front of it). Note that the Symbian version, in addition to stopping / restarting video, also supports switching between the front/back cameras if you press 0. By default, the front camera is used, of course.)
(a Windows Mobile HTC Universal screenshot showing the image received from the Nokia N95 and its own picture in the upper left corner. As you can see, the client doesn't even display a button shortcut to switch between the front and the back cameras)
1.3 Operating system compliance; issues
Under desktop Windows operating systems, the client is not really polished but, at least, works. Its usage is pretty tricky and not really intuitive (requires a lot of getting used to): for example, you need to click a given button twice to initiate an audio-only / video call. Nevertheless, it has no problems using my Creative Live! Cam Vista IM webcamera.
Let me know if you just can't find out how the client needs to be operated and I publish a mini-tutorial on it. Again, it's not really intuitive; it took me at least an hour to find out how the three clients work, how they differ and how calls should be initiated.
On Symbian (thoroughly tested this on the Nokia N95 with both Wi-Fi and GPRS / 3G connections (the latter being firewalled and NAT'ed), it worked pretty well: it's able to use both cameras and any kind of connection type. The only problem is the lack of the speakerphone support (despite the title of the left softkey). This means you must use some kind of a headset when using the app.
On Windows Mobile, the situation is a bit worse (tested this with the latest version with CAB internal filedates of 03/2008): as I've guessed, it doesn't support front cameras at all - as is, unfortunately, the case with MS Portrait 3.1 (see review and report HERE). Second, very few models (currently, from HTC, only the HTC Tornado and s620 MS Smartphones and HTC Universal / Wizard Pocket PC's; from HP, the hw6515, and, from Asus, the A716) are supported. Note that at least the two Pocket PC versions (that of the Wizard and the Universal) are exactly the same. Also note that the names are pretty much messed up; for example, under HTC, the Qtek names are listed.
Incidentally, upon installing it on a pretty much crowded HTC Universal on a card, it only seemed to support cellular connections; it just coulnd't make use of Wi-Fi connections. Furthermore, after the first (or second?) restart, it wouldn't connect to the server any more (not even thorugh, of course, a cellular connection) - it just displayed the "Cannot register. Reason: Connection timed out" message. Needless to say that under exactly the same circumstances the Symbian and the desktop Windows versions worked just OK. After a hard reset and reinstalling the client on a clean machine, everything started to work just fine.
The lack of the front camera support can only be fixed in some special cases; for example, the rotatable Universal where you can use the back camera while still seeing the screen; in no other cases. But, then, it's somewhat better to go straight for the way better and reliable MS Portrait instead because it's just more thoroughly optimized and bugfixed. Unless, of course, you need to talk to other TiVi users.
1.4 Speed, data usage
Video phoning is astonishingly good even over slow-speed GPRS. In these cases, you'll want to avoid using uplink video so that uplink audio get all the uplink bandwidth (which, in most cases, will only be sufficient for a stream with moderate pauses) - as has already been explained in my past VoIP articles. Otherwise, should you have at least an EDGE connection, you won't encounter any problems.
As it doesn't really require 3G speeds (unlike the audio-only Skype), if you do have EDGE (and not just GPRS), you can safely switch to 2G mode to avoid excess data usage - and, of course, power consumption, particularly if you always let the client run in the background, waiting for incoming calls. I've explained how this needs to be done on both Windows Mobile and Symbian in THIS article.
2. Verdict
On Windows Mobile, the only usage area I recommend it (if you run it on a rotatable model like the Universal) is connecting to a Symbian phone. Symbian having no other video phoning-capable software (Palringo - see the multiplatform review HERE - is only capable of sending static shots), Symbian users will need to use this client. For talking to other Windows Mobile phones (preferably, HTC Universals with their 180% rotatable screens), you may want to prefer MS Portrait instead - and, again, for talking to desktop Windows clients too.
On Symbian, this is a highly recommended solution, should you want to talk to other Symbian folks with a front camera and/or desktop folks and/or Windows Mobile folks with HTC Universals.

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REVIEW: new phone call recorder LivePVR

REVIEW: a brand new phone / meeting call recorder with great, unique rolling recording capabilities: LivePVR by Softtrends LLC
This sound / voice recorder application is both a phone call autorecorder and a meeting recorder with a, on the Pocket PC, really unique (yes, I know what I’m speaking about – I’ve thoroughly tested all the alternate voice/sound recorder applications – please see the “Recommended links” section for links) feature: “rolling recording”.
In this article, I thoroughly compare the just-released, latest (2.4) version to the already existing alternates, particularly PMRecorder (please read the review of the latter here – I will NOT explain why you can’t record the other party on most Pocket PC Phone Edition in this article!)
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Compatibility, availability
It’s available here and costs $9.95. The trial version is pretty usable and only time (30 days) constrained if you want to take it for a test ride.
It’s only compatible with WM5. I’ve tested it on two WM5 PPC Phone Edition devices (HTC Universal and HTC Wizard) – both worked OK (except for the VGA incompatibility problems on the former).
The unique feature: “rolling recording”
It may happen to you many times that you would like to record things that have just been said. In these cases, “rolling recording” can be of help. It makes it possible to record things that have already been said – before you pressed the “Record” button.
Please note that you will need to read the online documentation on the “rolling recording” in order to be able to properly utilize the unique rolling recording facility of the app. (Note that the homepage has a dead link to the Virtual Demo). In my extensive tests, rolling recording worked flawlessly and really delivered what it's supposed to.
Compared to...
Yes, as applications (fortunately) don't exist in isolation, it's the best to compare this app to the numerous alternates to get a clerar picture whether it's worth getting (or even trying).
As opposed to other “standard” voice recorders...
Pros
Buffering functionality – no other voice recorder is capable of the same. Note that the “Rewind Length” slider in Vianix Pocket Talk Enterprise Pro only sets the amount of seconds the Rewind icon steps back on each press (the same stands for forwarding).
It puts the entire date/time (incl. seconds) in the filename. Except for iPlay (which puts hours and minutes in the filenames – not the seconds) and Personal Memory Systems’ Audio Memory System (which is quite revolutionary in that it puts both the date, the time (incl. seconds) and a user-supplied remark in the filename), no other recorder does the same: they “only” autonumber the files. This approach can be easier for many people, particularly if you see the filelist from an application (for example, the FileList control itself in Windows Mobile itself when listing files created more than a day ago) without timestamps or, when the timestamps are lost (because, for example, you FTP the files or ActiveSync synchronizes them to the desktop).
Isn’t overpriced, unlike many of the alternates
No excess CPU usage: in both “conference” mode and while actively recording, around 1% only (measured on the HTC Wizard, recording to a storage card), which certainly shows it’s well-written and bugfree (in this respect)
Can record as a background task (unlike Notes)
Moderate memory usage: with 45 sec pre/postbuffers (as can also be seen in this Settings screenshot), it’s 2 Mbytes only
Cons
On the Pocket PC, no touchscreen support: must be operated by the D-pad + Action button + WM5 softkeys or the built-in keyboard (if present)
Sometimes, on the HTC Wizard, D-Pad only started to work after a forced screen orientation change while the app is active (this isn’t a problem on the HTC Universal though). This was also the case when traversing the focus to another application and then, switching back to LivePVR: you must change the screen orientation in order to be regain control on the GUI. After resetting the Pocket PC, these problems generally went away. It’s still be good to be aware of the solution if you want to avoid resetting your PPC.
Recording quality can in no way be set - everything is recorded as lengthy (about one Megabyte for every 45 seconds) PCM files, no matter what the system-level quality setting is. (Needless to say, it sports no codecs either, unlike many of the alternates.)
There are no niceties like Voice Activation System (VAS)
No VGA support – it only occupies the upper left quarter of the screen on VGA devices like the HTC Universal even in standard (SE) VGA mode
WM5 only (tested on other, previous platforms – a no-go)
As far as phone recording is concerned, as opposed to PMRecorder:
Pros
Resulting file doesn’t have an additional header and, therefore, need to be converted in order to be played in any media players. (Note that PMRecorder, thanks to my documenting the header and a Russian coder coding the converter, already has a third-party decoder.)
Cons
Doesn’t store the number of the caller/called
Auto-phonecall-recording must be reactivated by hand after every single reboot
PMRecorder has two recording quality settings (one of them using the space-saving GSM vocoder); this only one
Costs $10 (as opposed to the free PMRecorder)
Verdict
For a phone call recorder, stick with PMRecorder. The latter is definitely better in every respect. The same stands for recording individual voice notes where rollbacking isn’t needed (because you know beforehand what you want to record and what not).
However, as far as conference/meeting recording is concerned where rollback capabilities are a must, you won’t find anything better for the Pocket PC. It’s only in this case that I heartily recommend this application.
A TIP: how can you make it record all your phone calls without explicitly starting LivePVR?
It must be done exactly the same way as with PMRecorder: you just put a link to the executable of the program, \Program Files\LivePVR\sftLivePVR.exe, into \Windows\StartUp (with PMRecorder, the executable can be found by default at \Program Files\PMRecorder\PMRecorder.exe).
Unfortunately, while with PMRecorder it’s sufficient to just minimize the task when it’s (auto)started (and it will record everything), with LivePVR, you MUST explicitly go to the Phone Call PVR menu (one Action button press) and explicitly reactivate phone recording (two Action button presses). After this, you can safely minimize it, just as with PMRecorder, and it will record all your calls.
Note that while, seemingly, auto recording is activated upon reboot, in practice, it doesn’t work. This is why you will need to reactivate it after every reboot. In this respect, PMRecorder is certainly easier to operate, particularly if you often reboot your device.
Recommended links
In addition to the most important PMRecorder article, I also recommend the following articles:
Everything you may need to know about sound recording on the Pocket PC
and, to a lesser degree, my following reviews:
Personal Memory Systems’ Audio Memory System
MotionApps’ mVoice 5
does LivePVR record phone call with ear and without loudspeaker ?
Does LivePVR record phone conversation with in-ear and without loudspeaker ?
is there another software that does this?
I know the law!!
thank
goodmanbrt said:
Does LivePVR record phone conversation with in-ear and without loudspeaker ?
is there another software that does this?
I know the law!!
thank
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to XDA-Dev
Nope - it's suffering from the same, hardware-based problem as all other call recording apps, as has also been pointed out in the article.

REVIEW: Bluetooth chatter / Bluejacking app Sniper

Ever wanted to use the Bluetooth capabilities of your Pocket PC for local (text) messaging and file transfer, including local broadcasting? Take a look at Sniper, which is a comparatively new, constantly updated native Bluetooth messenger utility.
Unfortunately, there are very few local Bluetooth-based applications on the Pocket PC platform. As has pointed out in my article on Microsoft (MS) Portrait, the only really usable, Bluetooth-capable, internet-less text messaging / file transfer application, Portrait isn’t able to work over the Microsoft Bluetooth stack, only over real TCP/IP networks (including BT PAN and Wi-Fi P2P), which the Microsoft Bluetooth stack doesn't support because it lacks support for the Bluetooth Personal Area Network (PAN).
The same stands for the very similar but already abandoned Gphone . Finally, the other two, similar applications, ProximityMail and Bluetooth Chat, are no longer supported and have never really worked. (Note that I elaborate on the latter two apps and, particularly, the current, similar project of the developer of the former in the Appendix at the end of this article.)
At last: native Microsoft Bluetooth stack messaging solution; on the other hand, some compatibility problems
The new application is definitely good in that it supports the Microsoft Bluetooth stack, as opposed to Microsoft Portrait. If you have a device with the Microsoft Bluetooth stack, you’ll certainly welcome the new application – at last, a local native Bluetooth messaging solution that doesn’t require Wi-Fi peer-to-peer networks or an active Internet connection.
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Unfortunately, it has some severe problems. First, while the homepage of the application advertises the app as PPC2k2+-compliant, it doesn’t seem to work with pre-WM5 Windows Mobile operating systems. I’ve tested all the available versions with both Pocket PC 2002, WM2003 and WM2003SE. I've made some example screenshots (see this and this) to show you it doesn't work: as can be seen, the installer can’t even install the WM5-only CAB files.
Furthermore, it’s incompatible with Widcomm/Broadcom Bluetooth stack-based devices like all HP iPAQ Pocket PC's (an example screenshot of it refusing running on the hx4700 is here), the Fujitsu-Siemens T800 series, the Acer n series and, of course, the Widcomm-hacked, WM5-based Dell Axim x50(v)/x51(v)'s. This is a very bad problem: developers of Bluetooth applications should at last notice that, as has already been pointed out in my articles (example here), Broadcom has in the meantime made its WinCE SDK freely available.
Available versions and differences between them; Bluejacking support in the trial version
There are two versions worth mentioning; first, of course, the latest one, 1.2.368, available here.
Bluejacking (see this article for a complete description), one of the most important and innovative (no other Pocket PC application is capable of this) feature of the application, is completely disabled in the latest, above-linked version. Older versions (for example, version 1.1.237 available here at ClickApps), however, still support this functionality in the demo, except mass-sending more than one file at a time. That is, if you want to give this functionality a try in the demo version (I certainly recommend it), get the older version.
Some examples of it in action
A Pocket PC device discovering two other Pocket PC’s.
Compared to MS Portrait or any other TCP/IP-based chatter application (including IRC clients), its chat feature is a bit more complicated to use. This is how it happens in practice: Sending a message: step 1, step 2. On the receiving end, you get it (note that if you see it this way, it means you’ve forgotten to disable the auto-receive of incoming beam) and save it. If you answer Yes, you’ll be taken to the messages; it's only then that you'll be able to read it. There, you can, for example, reply to the sender.
Examples of file transfer (sending files) 1, 2 3 (sending multiple files like this doesn’t work in the demo). At the receiving end, they’re saved in the pre-set save directory.
An example of bluejacking.
Verdict
If you want local chatting with other Microsoft BT stack-based Pocket PC's or non-Windows Mobile Bluetooth phones, give it a try. If you can’t use a Wi-Fi peer-to-peer connection (or full Internet connectivity) between your WM5 Microsoft BT stack-based devices, give it a try. If you want to do some bluejacking, give it a try. Otherwise, particularly if you have a pre-WM5 or Widcomm/Broadcom-based device, stick with the free MS Portrait.
Appendix: What about ProximityMail and Bluetooth Chat?
Unfortunately, the other two native (non TCP/IP-based, unlike MS Portrait and Gphone) Bluetooth messaging applications, ProximityMail and Bluetooth Chat (latest, tested, still available versions 1.44 and 0.5b, respectively) are both useless and no longer developed.
The former, ProximityMail, will never be updated; the developer, Inventop Corp, has removed all references to the product, including even the old download link (also see this). Its successor, BUZZeeBee (see the homepage for more info), still only has a desktop PC version. (They have been promising the Pocket PC version for months; there is still no sign of it).
The latter, Bluetooth Chat by Andrey Demidov, hasn’t been updated for three years and also seems to be completely abandoned. Needless to say, it has never really worked either.
personal i find it odd whne somebody who have that many posts
deside to make something i can only describe as a commercial
Rudegar said:
personal i find it odd whne somebody who have that many posts
deside to make something i can only describe as a commercial
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If there were a REAL alternative to this app, it wouldn't sound a commercial (check out my other, comparative reviews - I "trash" many apps I test). Unfortunately, when there is only one program for a given purpose, it's hard to write an article that doesn't sound like "musch as it has its share of problems, go get it".
As soon as there will be another, directly comparable alternate to this app, I promise to write a decent comparison
not working on omnia T_T
is there anything similar for android?

Extend your phone’s battery life II: (auto-)terminate unnecessary data connections

In Part I of this series, I’ve elaborated on how quickly switching the 3G and GSM modes to prolong battery life. In this article, I discuss an equally important question: forcing the connection to be closed after a predefined time.
Note that the two situations (and solutions_ are radically different:
Switching between 3G and GSM bands is highly recommended even if you don’t use data connections, “only” phone calls. This is because the radio module of the phone needs a lot more power to maintain a connection with the higher-frequency 3G towers. Again, this has nothing to do with data connections being used or not.
Switching back to GSM, of course, can’t be utilized on non-3G-capable handsets like all TI OMAP-based Windows Mobile phones. The reason for this is that phones of the latter type don’t have access to 3G networks at all and are all operating in GSM networks.
Terminating data connections, on the other hand, are absolutely independent of the band you use and can (should), therefore, be used in both 3G and GSM (pre-3G) modes. This also means terminating a data connection is usable on non-3G-capable handsets too. Remember that switching back to the GSM band don’t work on these handsets as they can’t even use 3G bands.
1.1 Why no auto-disconnect when I exit the program using the connection?
First, some theory, which will be of extreme importance to people coming from other operating systems. Windows Mobile uses the following approach: “when you establish a data connection, it’ll stay on unless you manually disconnect it”. (Fortunately, it also offers a built-in and, by default, inactive timer that does allow for disconnecting and, therefore, preserving battery life. More on this later.)
This approach is diametrically opposed to that of Symbian - the operating system of, for example, Nokia and Sony-Ericsson handsets. Symbian, as opposed to Windows Mobile, doesn’t (generally) use system-level connections. That is, you can’t just start a “global” connection and make all your programs requiring an Internet connection use it. Instead, a program wanting to pass to the Net displays you a list of “hotspots”, which includes your data accounts (and already-used Wi-Fi access points if the handset is Wi-Fi capable). When you exit the application that has opened the connection, it will also be closed, unlike in Windows Mobile (WM). That is, if you, say, connect to the Net by starting Internet Explorer Mobile (IEM) on your WM phone, after you shut down IEM, it’ll still stay on. (Note that Symbian, per se, doesn't offer auto-timeout at all.)
As active data connections consume a lot of additional battery, you will want to make sure you close them. This is particularly true when operating in 3G mode.
2. Manual disconnection
On Pocket PC’s, there’re three ways of doing this manually; one of them (the second) is also usable on MS Smartphones.
First, you can long-press the Red phone button. It’ll result in terminating the connection on most models and ROM versions.
Second, if you go to the pre-installed Connection Manager, you can just click the (active) “Data connection” icon as can be seen in THIS screenshot (the same on another Pocket PC model – the Wizard running mfrazzz’s XDA Mobile 6 Release 3 – is HERE, showing it being active (blue)).
As has already been mentioned, this is the only way to disconnect a Smartphone (a WM6 QVGA screenshot HERE). The Smartphone has no clickable Connectivity bubble and long-pressing the Red phone button results in the locking of the phone, not hanging up the connection.
Third, if you do apply the registry hacks below (see Chapter 3), you can also click the “Disconnect” button in the Connectivity bubble. This, however, requires a registry hack.
In addition, if you prefer an icon / link-based connection termination, you may also want to check out Vijay555's excellent VJVolubilis utility – more precisely, the –gprsoff command-line parameter.
3. Automatic disconnection
In a past article, I’ve already elaborated on GB-SOFT Tweak, a Pocket PC-only (incompatble with MS Smartphones) tool that lets for configuring the system to disconnect the data connection after a freely settable idling period. Check out the linked article for a mini-tutorial.
phoneAlarm, of which the band switching capabilities I’ve thoroughly explained in the previous part of this series, also has some other, data connection-related goodies in the (FULL version only!) Data Connection Settings dialog on the Addon tab. It’s also in there that the system-level auto disconnection can be configured:
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Note that you MUST reset / recycle your device for it to start working (but not in the opposite direction). It works in exactly the same way as GB-SOFT Tweak: it sets the value of HKLM\Comm\ ConnMgr\ Planner\Settings \ CacheTime in the Registry and lets the operating system disconnect when there’s no Internet activity in the pre-set time.
(Also see THIS post (in THIS XDA-Devs thread) for more info on this Registry entry.)
Also note that both these apps (phoneAlarm and GB-SOFT Tweak) can also be configured to enable the “Disconnect” button and the timer in the Connectivity bubble (as was the case in WM2003(SE)) as can be seen in THIS screenshot. This, as with the above-shown auto-timeout setting, is just a widely-known Registry hack. (If you’re interested, it’s HKLM\ControlPanel\ Phone\ Flags2 with values 8 (Disconnect button), 16 (both the Disconnect button and the timer) and 0 (neither of them); also see THIS MoDaCo Wiki page).
3.1 Registry hacks
As all these hacks are “plain” Registry hacks, you don’t necessarily need (the commercial) phoneAlarm Pro / GB-SOFT Tweak for enabling / changing them. If you aren’t afraid of directly editing the Registry, you can do it yourself, without relying on these third-party apps.
3.2 The MS Smartphone platform
So far, there have been no tutorials for MS Smartphone users on this subject (see the comments for example HERE). Therefore, I hope this section turns out to be highly useful for everyone.
The same Registry hack (HKLM\Comm\ ConnMgr\ Planner\Settings \ CacheTime) works as with Pocket PC’s. However, GB-SOFT Tweak doesn’t as it's not MS Smartphone-compliant.
Configuring the MS Smartphone version of phoneAlarm to set a pre-defined timeout is pretty easy (as of version v1.11.1): inside Config, go to Advanced Settings and look for “GPRS Auto-disconnect”:
and set it to your favorite value; for example, 1 (minutes). The result:
Note that an XDA-Devs forum member has written a .NET CF-based front-end to set these values in THIS XDA-Devs thread. He, so far, hasn’t made it available for download. I’ve just e-mailed him about this – hope he’ll do this.

REVIEW: Pocket Commodore 64/VIC 20 3.0 released with multiplayer,VASTLY improved core

A major breakthrough in C64 emulation: the long-awaited version 3.0 of Pocket Commodore 64 Plus Vic 20 has just been released!
If you’ve read the Commodore 64 Emulation Bible (make sure you read it; in this article, I will NOT elaborate on how you can import / run games under the emulator), you already know that Pocket Commodore 64 has, apart from the CPU usage problem, always been the best C64 emulator for the platform.
The new version, along with a plethora of new features,
- also fixes the CPU usage problem (on the 624 MHz Del Axim x51v, while just idling, while the previous version uses all the CPU cycles, the new one about 35%... 45% (measured on the x51v and the iPAQ 210, respectively; both running at 624 MHz).
- has built-in support for the Commodore VIC 20
- it supports edge softening on VGA devices (accessible via Settings / Soften video). This has excellent results. For example, compare the following two screenshots:
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(non-smoothed)
(smoothed)
The smoothed version is indeed much easier on the eyes – as is the case with, say, ScummVM running on high-res devices (not only on Windows Mobile but also, say, high-res Symbian devices like the E90).
Multiplayer - a full tutorial
Another major new feature is supporting a non-multicast IP-based LAN / Internet multiplayer games (read THIS if you don't know what they are and how they should be used). This works the following way (unfortunately, it’s pretty vaguely explained in the original docs so I found it better to explain it more verbosely).
1. Connect the two Pocket PC’s to the Net; make sure at least one has a direct IP visible. This is always the case in p2p networks like an ad-hoc Wi-Fi connection between the two Pocket PC’s or two PPC’s connecting to the same access point. However, as the IP model is VERY flexible (much more flexible than, say, doing the same with an app with native Microsoft BT support only), you can play a multiplayer game over any kind of connection – even with a remote friend.
2. Start the standard (PComm64) emulator on the server, on the client PCRemote64
3. On the server, go to Settings / Setup Controls (the third button from the top on the bottom left):
Click Network Game in the upper right corner of the interface (well above the huge Close button).
Now, PC64 will report the server running and will also display the IP you’ll need to enter to the client:
4. On the client, enter the server address (the input field takes the same area as the three virtual drive icons normally); here, 169.254.155.017 (note that it’s different from the previous screenshot)
and click Connect under the IP input field:
Note that all the file loading icons are disabled. This is because it’s always the server that must initiate file loading; the client doesn’t need to do anything.
I’ve played Wizard of Wor in this setup (over a Wi-Fi p2p LAN connection). Worked flawlessly (apart from being a little bit slow), particularly after increasing the, by default, 1 frameskip a bit. With Archon, however, firing didn’t work at all on either the server or the client, rendering the battle useless and, consequently, the game unplayable. I haven’t tested other, multiplayer games.
Emulation core compliance tests
The new version also boasts of a brand new emulator core. I’ve thoroughly tested it with my standard tools (games & demos) to see whether it’s true and how much it has been improved.
The emulation indeed seems to be better, meaning more games being compatible with the emulator. For example, while nothing happened after the cracking note with the old version, with the new, it got as far as the other, desktop-based emulators - with the Guild of thieves (Blast! 336 / *).
The demo tests have shown HUGELY improved compatibility:
- while it’s still incompatible with Altered States 50% by Taboo (compatible with VICE 1.21 on the desktop), it at least displays the first textual message screen (“His drive”…))
- Bumpmania by Arise resulted in exactly the same results than the other emulators (the first part ran OK; after that, it just showed a white screen)
- Biba 2 - Dream Injection by Arise – it sees a distorted, useless directory; can’t load anything
- Dutch Breeze by Blackmail runs pretty well
- Cycle by Booze Design: runs – with graphical glitches because of the FLI mode. At least the initial soundtrack selection screen is presented OK
- Follow the Sign 3 - Unsound Minds by Byterapers runs OK until after the logo:
Then, in the default Fast CPU emulation mode, it exists with an invalid opcode message and asking for enabling the accurate mode. Unfortunately, running it in the accurate mode doesn’t help either: it immediately hangs after the logo above.
- One-Der by Oxyron is played back OK in both(!) modes.
- Tower Power 100% by Camelot: works great (including the animated countdown) until the title in Fast CPU mode; then exits. Accurate mode doesn’t help either: it crashes.
All in all, the emulator core has indeed been made MUCH, incomparably better.
Cons
As far as the cons are concerned, unfortunately, the game still doesn’t seem to be compatible with MS Smartphones. That is, you’ll need to stick to the recently-updated and, now, by default QVGA and Landscape-compatible PocketHobbit. It has other bugfixes too and is (still) free.
Note that it does ask on touchscreen-enabled Pocket PC’s whether it has a touch screen. The "do you have a touchscreen device?" shows it MAY support non-touchscreen devices. However, on none of my Smartphones (HTC s310 WM5, HTC s710 WM6) did it work. While installing WMCab.cab worked, as opposed to PCommodore64Vic20Setup.exe - when installing the latter on the platform, the installer transferred a CAB file fully incompatible with the Smartphone –, the emulator itself refused to run complaining about a missing component. (Screenshots of the two Smartphones I’ve tested it on HERE and HERE).
I’m still waiting for the answer to some of my questions from the developers (for example, on possible rebates for 2.xx owners); as soon as I have some relevant info, I post an update.
Verdict
This is indeed a major breakthrough. The multiplayer, the lack of the CPU usage bug of the old versions and the really cool, new, MUCH more compatible emulator core makes this title a REAL must if you’re into Commodore 64 (and/or VC-20) emulation. While it’s a bit pricy, now, with all these enhancements and bugfixes, the emulator is certainly worth the money.
UPDATE (10/31/2009): Posted three videos demonstrating how multiplayer needs to be set up and used on three great two-player games.
Note:
1. in order to have access to the “fire” functionality, I had to manually assign each and every direction to the hardware D-pad and use the on-screen fire button to fire.
2. I needed to enter the IP of the server only once; this is why I don't enter it on the videos at all
3. I switch to "no slowdown" mode during loading of sll the three titles to speed up loading and skipping intros
The videos:
Adept (Archon II)
Wizard of Wor
International Karate
Hey Menneisyys!!
Long time no see you around
Cheers,
orb3000 said:
Hey Menneisyys!!
Long time no see you around
Cheers,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm still here - it's just that there are so few new apps / games to review (most devs have switched to the iPhone) that I much more rarely post than, say, two years ago.
tried it on my HTC Leo, it starts but the interface (on screen keyboard) does not works at all...
Same on TD2 with WM 6.5. Also the emu has totally disappeared from the manufacturer's website. I wonder what is going on? Not compatible with 6.5? Simply abandoned the program?
Anyone know if this is still available? I would love to try it on my TP2.
Joe USer said:
Anyone know if this is still available? I would love to try it on my TP2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know either - have been trying to contact them (I'm a paying customer); no answer so far.
(The worst is that I cannot activate it on my iPAQ 210 any more - that is, the device I've originally purchased it for.)

A true web camera app for Windows Mobile and Symbian: OctroVideo

In my last Bible of Windows Mobile, Symbian and Blackberry webcamera applications directly usable in desktop messengers like Live Messenger, I haven’t elaborated on the apps that are a bit different: they let for using your camera-equipped handset as a camera for your messaging application running on your desktop PC (connected to your handset). OctroVideo is radically different: it allows for your handset to be used as a Web camera in itself, without running any external application. This means you don’t need any desktop computer to publish your video stream – it can directly use any Internet connection it has access to (for example, the built-in packet connection) and stream what the camera sees. (Without sound.)
To access the stream, your clients will need to go HERE, enter your username in the uppermost text input field (“View Video. Enter the username of the user whose video you would like to view.”) and, if everything is OK with the Java runtime environment on your desktop PC, it’ll immediately play the video stream in a pop-up window like this:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Here, you can switch between the display size of 320*240 and 640*480, regardless of the input resolution. That is, if the latter is 320*240 and you use the display size of 640*480, the size of all pixels will be doubled.
Note that if you move the cursor onto the left part of the window, some other (for example, zoom) controls will be displayed.
To stream, you’ll first need to create an account on the same page, by filling in your user information in the four textboxes in the “Create a new account for streaming Video” group and, then, activating the account by clicking the activation URL sent in the subsequent mail.
I’ve tested the app on all the three supported operating systems: Symbian S60v3 (v21 Nokia N95), Windows Mobile Professional (PPC PE) and Standard (MS Smartphone).
Symbian
On Symbian, it worked, more or less, flawlessly. After starting the app and logging in (upon the first start, it asks for the credentials – streaming login and password –; these can also be altered in Options), it may complain about the untrusted certificate:
Then, just click Action and, then, Continue:
In Settings, you can switch between the front and back cameras, set the resolution, (M-)JPEG encoding quality and the frame per second:
Finally, after pressing Stream, it starts streaming. A screenshot:
(Note that this screenshot also shows the tasklist and an error message. I couldn’t make a screenshot without them.)
Note that some people have managed to make it stream in 640*480 on their v21 Nokia N95. I wasn’t able to do this on my v21 N95.
Also note that 3+G upload can result in a HUGE power consumption. I’ve measured about 2.5W with disabled backlight.
Windows Mobile
Unfortunately, the situation seems to be much worse on Windows Mobile. Neither of the two tested devices worked (without major flaws) as of the current, tested (1.0.3) version.
On the HTC Universal (3G PPC phone with two cameras), nothing was streamed (while the app certainly displayed it did stream). On the HTC Vox, the (only) camera did work, but with a major flaw: instead of transferring the entire picture resized to the, on the device, only available 160*120 size, it just uploaded the cropped center area as if it made some heavy (digital) zooming – with the 2Mpixel (1600*1200) Vox, 10 times zoom (1600/160 = 1200/120 = 10). This means the results are utterly useless. That is, on many Windows Mobile models, it’s (still) useless, it seems.
Some Windows Mobile people reported success, others didn’t.
Note that the Windows Mobile settings dialog of OctroVideo certainly lacks the switching between front and back cameras. (Unfortunately, currently, as far as third-party apps are concerned, only Ateksoft’s titles are able to do so – nothing else.):
I don´t know is this helps, but I have been using web camera plus and I can use my UNI as a web cam without any issues.
You can download it form here: https://www.yousendit.com/download/Q01HL0dITWNrWSt4dnc9PQ
Hope it helps
Cheers,
orb3000 said:
I don´t know is this helps, but I have been using web camera plus and I can use my UNI as a web cam without any issues.
You can download it form here: https://www.yousendit.com/download/Q01HL0dITWNrWSt4dnc9PQ
Hope it helps
Cheers,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
without a desktop server?

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