SONY encouraging developers to create modify and install Linuxkernels in there phones - General Topics

It may come as a surprise to many, that Sony's mobile smartphone division are actively encouraging developers to create, modify and install customised Linux kernels into their latest lineup of phones, including the Xperia Play, the device that was once known as "The Playstation Phone".
When Sony originally released their Xperia line of Android phones, many people were disappointed at how locked down the devices were. Many people consider Android's flexibility one of its best features, yet it's difficult if not impossible to install a customized OS if the phone's bootloader is locked down. This was particularly noticeable on Sony's phones as they were slow to roll out newer Android OS versions, leaving many users on Android 1.6 while different manufacturers happily rolled out 2.1 and even 2.2. Many users were annoyed at the lack of updates, but also at the inability to install an unofficial Android ROM.
Sony took a lot of this criticism on board and announced that their 2011 range of phones, such as the Xperia Arc and the Xperia Play, would have the ability to have their bootloaders unlocked. Before the phones were even in stores, Sony launched a dedicated site for unlocking your phone.
http://unlockbootloader.sonyericsson.com/
However, Sony has now gone a step further and given detailed instructions on how to create your own customized Linux kernel for the devices. The blog goes into great detail on how to build, assemble and flash a kernel using the source that Sony legally has to provide, thanks to the GPL license that the Linux kernels falls under. Customized Kernels are par for the course in the Android world. They're often used to extend the features and functionality of the device, such as allowing it to support additional file systems, improve the camera, increase battery life, and allow for overclocking, among many other things.
It isn't for the feint of heart, though and the blog does repeatedly state that doing anything of the sort could void your warranty, nor do Sony Ericsson promise any kind of support, however they have promised to monitor the community and help out where they can:
Sony Ericsson does not guarantee any support on this, but we will monitor the Building the Linux kernel for Xperia phones thread on the XDA Developers forum. However, we cannot guarantee an answer for every question asked in this forum.
This is a significant step forward for Sony, who appear to have made a complete 180 degree turn when it comes to their mobile devices. It also means that Sony is one of the most developer-friendly handset manufacturers out there, arguably making their phones as developer-friendly as Google's own-brand devices, if not more.
George Hotz once bragged that he would be the first to "hack" the Xperia play, but it seems Sony themselves beat him to the punch by opening the device up to everyone.
http://unlockbootloader.sonyericsson.com/

Go Sony!! Finally starting to loosen up on their proprietary noose!!

RFrisch said:
Go Sony!! Finally starting to loosen up on their proprietary noose!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes indeed.

Damn, did you just copy and paste the article?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

conqu1stador said:
Damn, did you just copy and paste the article?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No i didnt. actualy i did but from this article.
http://www.neowin.net/news/sony-helps-and-encourages-developers-to-install-linux-on-their-phones
Not yours

It is encouraging to see Sony / S.E. trying to change their game up for the better. Especially taking an active approach and not just being 'cool with it.'
I dig it.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

"More like we won't update your phone's OS, do it yourself " by thealexweb @ neowin.net
i lold

Djidara said:
"More like we won't update your phone's OS, do it yourself " by thealexweb @ neowin.net
i lold
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i guess u are right. this will be a proplem for majority of consumers whom cant to do it there selfs. or cant search on xda xD.
on SE arc the work already began for roms.

Nice!!! HTC, please learn from Sony...

Related

[PROJECT] WebGL for Xperia™ phones - open source project by Sony Ericsson

Hi all devs,
In November, we, Sony Ericsson, announced that we were the first phone manufacturer in the world to support WebGL through the native Android browser of Xperia™ phones. As a next step, we are now releasing our WebGL implementation for our coming Xperia™ phones running Android™ 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and above as open source.
https://github.com/sonyericssondev/WebGL
Feel free to ask questions, discuss and make suggestion, Sony Ericsson web-browsing experts will monitor this thread and try to answer as soon as possible.
Here you have the full blog-post at Developer World.
/Karl-Johan Dahlström
Sony Ericsson Developer Program
*Bumping the thread*
Makes me wonder if such things might be possible to implement into other devices.
for sure, but you need gpu drivers, mostly privative, im forgeting this im on lg p990,
Time to switch phone, maybe ;-)
nejc121 said:
Makes me wonder if such things might be possible to implement into other devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Considering that Sony Ericsson seems to take the "for the greater good of the platform" approach to Android development in many cases I doubt that would be a problem. Just look at how much they contribute to AOSP that also greatly benefits their competitors.
Looking at this commit that seems to include a lot of the additions, it seems like a pretty general implementation.
Is anyone outside of Sony able to get this WebGL implementation working?
I am using an omap reference, with 4.0.3 mr1 with TI drives and codecs, and I'm able to get the AFS compiled with Sony's WebGL implementation (yes, I saw there was an update on 1/31/2012 which added in a LOT of changes).
The browser works fine, but the browser crashes as it tries to load any WebGL example.
I've been trying to examples on the khronos site.
Was curious if anyone else was able to get it working ???
Laughable.
Sony does this, it gets ignored by the Sony hating internet, yet all these same sites were falling over themselves to report anything bad they could dig up about them... I'm guessing Microsoft were paying the wages of all the tech websites and had effective editorial control.
CrazyPeter said:
Laughable.
Sony does this, it gets ignored by the Sony hating internet, yet all these same sites were falling over themselves to report anything bad they could dig up about them... I'm guessing Microsoft were paying the wages of all the tech websites and had effective editorial control.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CrazyPeter,
I'm not following you completely here. I wasn't aware the internet hated Sony, but know their DRM policies have never sat well with some OSS supporters.
I am not sure how that would relate to these additions to webkit which Sony open sourced. IMO that is a good thing and Sony should be applauded for such an effort. My biggest worry is that we'll see multiple WebGL implementations, possibly one from Google themselves. It is not clear to me just exactly what Google announced last week in regards to Chrome, I need to read up on that again...if Google puts Chrome back into the webkit repo, it would make sense that it would need some type of WebGL implementation.
At the same time it would seem that nvidia/khronos would have an implementation of WebGL themselves, with the popularity of the Tegra devices growing every day.
AFAICT you need a device wtih a GPU to run the WebGL sources Sony published, it won't run in the emulator. I don't get an error in the browser when I open a WebGL page, so it thinks the browser supports it, AFAICT.
SoftOrchestra said:
CrazyPeter,
I'm not following you completely here. I wasn't aware the internet hated Sony, but know their DRM policies have never sat well with some OSS supporters.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is really it, you have latched onto a handful of cherrypicked stories about how Sony loves proprietary formats etc, everyone will bring up ATRAC and the same old regurgitated crap about that SonyBMG CD copy protection stuff from like a decade ago.
The point is, there are hundreds of companies, bigger and worse than Sony on this. Microsoft and Apple get a free pass, nobody dare mention their DRM schemes and crimes against consumers..... I wonder why...
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Implementation details
Hi,
I really appreciate your work of WebGL support in Android browser, thanks for open-sourcing it as well.
I am an WebKit browser enthusiast and I have following question about WebGL implementation.
a). You seem to be using Angle project for compiling shader etc. If I am correct, Angle need to be used only when the platform doesn't support OpenGL ES2.0, in which case Angle will convert the GL calls to driver specific calls. However, android supports OpenGL ES2.0, hence, is it required to use Angle?
b). Current implementation seem to share the textures created in render thread with UI thread using EGLImageKHR (Completely hardware accelerated path). But it also has the mechanism to render via CPU using paintRenderingResultsToCanvas method. Assuming that the default way of rendering in hardware accelerated, is CPU based method to render in necessary?
Thanks,
CrazyPeter said:
This is really it, you have latched onto a handful of cherrypicked stories about how Sony loves proprietary formats etc, everyone will bring up ATRAC and the same old regurgitated crap about that SonyBMG CD copy protection stuff from like a decade ago.
The point is, there are hundreds of companies, bigger and worse than Sony on this. Microsoft and Apple get a free pass, nobody dare mention their DRM schemes and crimes against consumers..... I wonder why...
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
REALLY ?!?!?!?!
No offence m8 but the way your spinning it Sony are the planets hardware saviours and any criticism of them deserves an international war crimes trial.
Now am far from a Sony hater i spent hundreds of pounds (back when hundreds was BIG money) buying there portable tape players and minidisc's back in the 80-90's. i still own and worship my Sony MDR A34's as the best ever compact folding headphones, have 2 spare pairs even though Sony pulled the plug on them in early 2000's.
So am no Sony hater ........ but i struggle to recognise this picture you paint of a dedicated tech company faithfully serving its consumer bases.
There are GOOD reasons why many don't hold Sony in high regard.
They have always tended towards proprietary formats .......... thats just a fact. Often in the face of a well established standard.
For one reason to gouge costumers!!!
And they are still doing it.
They single handedly responsible for the 3rd party fake PS3 pad market as they GOUGE such a HUGE premium price out of loyal Gheystation (sorry couldn't help that one) owners for pads that it is economical to manufacture crap fakes and sell them as genuine.
They drop great product lines that still sell with HUGE consumer bases, in order to try and push consumers into new lines (often of questionable abilities in comparison to what they replaced)
Just don't get me started on some of Sony's failings, they are far from the injured party.
CrazyPeter said:
This is really it, you have latched onto a handful of cherrypicked stories about how Sony loves proprietary formats etc, everyone will bring up ATRAC and the same old regurgitated crap about that SonyBMG CD copy protection stuff from like a decade ago.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not really it, IMO, as the game has been evolving from proprietary formats to more open formats over the past 10 years, 20 years, and even 30 years.
CrazyPeter said:
The point is, there are hundreds of companies, bigger and worse than Sony on this. Microsoft and Apple get a free pass, nobody dare mention their DRM schemes and crimes against consumers..... I wonder why...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are various reasons, but it's not as if anyone is targeting any specific company. Companies involved in practice that customers don't align to will end up taking the heat. This is not to say that Sony hasn't brought goodness to the world we live in, if it hadn't been for Sony there wouldn't have been VHS decks, let alone BETA decks. This is one reason why Sony gets scrutiny, they have been involved in an area that is dear to copyright protection. Before video decks, how could people record ? Music as well, Sony has provided and sold devices to copy/record/playback music.
I just point this out as Sony is no worse than you or me, they merely find a way to sell products that record/playback to consumers, just as Apple does. It's the RIAA, BMI, ASCAP, the motion picture industry, etc...that need to be reformed. Ok, Sony is a part of that also...but they weren't always...:-/
Guru Zeb said:
There are GOOD reasons why many don't hold Sony in high regard. They have always tended towards proprietary formats .......... thats just a fact. Often in the face of a well established standard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They have no choice. They sell products to consumers who can then record/playback various types of media. You can't get away from that easily.
That said, I never intended to defend or belittle Sony, although I admit to being a huge supporter of Sony as a company and technology in general over the years.
I am also happy to say that I have gotten the Sony WebGL code working on the TI omap device. I will be in touch with Anders or other folks working on the WebGL tree, to get my patch into the WebGL tree, so that others don't need to bang their head against the wall...
Without Sony's release of this WebGL based implementation, it would have required much more work. In my case I'm using a device with the SGX 540 display from Imagination Technology, and the driver tosses chunks with the display context that is created, when it tries to set the context current. This made this a very difficult problem to solve. I just figured this out recently so need to do more testing next week before I get back to Sony.
Domo Arigato Gozaimashita, Sony!
xc0ffee said:
a). You seem to be using Angle project for compiling shader etc. If I am correct, Angle need to be used only when the platform doesn't support OpenGL ES2.0, in which case Angle will convert the GL calls to driver specific calls. However, android supports OpenGL ES2.0, hence, is it required to use Angle?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Angle is not used for compiling the shaders, only to validate them. Currently, no OpenGL ES2.0 shader compiler is equipped to handle the special restrictions that WebGL place on shader contents, hence we need something like Angle that has support for WebGL. The same solution is used by most desktop browsers.
xc0ffee said:
b). Current implementation seem to share the textures created in render thread with UI thread using EGLImageKHR (Completely hardware accelerated path). But it also has the mechanism to render via CPU using paintRenderingResultsToCanvas method. Assuming that the default way of rendering in hardware accelerated, is CPU based method to render in necessary?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The function paintRenderingResultsToCanvas is not used on a per-frame basis. It is only invoked in special circumstances, like when the user's script requests to have the frambebuffer contents painted to a 2D canvas.
/Anders
Thank you for your distribution

Do Not Move, Read First [MINI REVIEW] Xperia x8

Note:
Deftone said:
Dear Papa Smurf151,
I am writing just to offer a polite reminder about the message I sent to you a day ago.
If you do not have it it is requesting permission to duplicate a thread into the General discussion > General forum.
It is a review on a phone. I think it would be more appreciated by the general public that the people already with an x8.
Please reply as I am at an inconvenience without permission.
Thank-you once again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah go ahead sorry I've been extremely busy with work
XDA Moderator
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEFORE A MOD CLOSES OR MOVES THIS THREAD - The thread was originally posted here but moved to the x8 forums. I have obtained permission to duplicate it back here as shown by the above message quote.
This thread has been created to review the Xperia x8 device. As I say in all my reviews, although there may be other threads reviewing the device, I think it is valid that I give tips based on my experience. This is a Mini guide which means that I will only highlight key information about the phone.
Suggestions are like gold to me and I just want to make my service better. All reasonable comments are welcome. Please PM me if you have any urgent problems. I am sorry if my service is uninvited.​-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Xperia x8 burst into stores around September 2010 worldwide. After using the phone for nearly a year, I can confirm that it is a great phone for both advanced android users and basic ones. I hope to elaborate on the ultimate phone formula used in the device. I will cover a few specific areas.
The device is renowned for its 3G capabilities was developed by the late Sony Ericsson shipped with the Android 1.6 architecture and officially upgradable to the newer 2.1 version. XDA has enabled many ways of surpassing this firmware limit and expanding your experience.
Physical Hardware
You can probably guess that the phone will not have the latest hardware if it was created two years ago and this is why I thought I would highlight the now weakest point first.
The phone has a 76 mm powerfully capacitive touch screen LCD. It has a small yet firm resolution of 320 by 480 pixels. On the back of the device is a 3.2 megapixel camera with fixed focus and no flash and there is no front facing camera. Photos can be geotagged although this feature is not necessarily useful. Fortunately camera can be accessed using the touchscreen menu, or via the dedicated camera button on the side of the phone. The Xperia X8 uses a 600 MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 processor, as well as 3-axis accelerometers and built-in Global Positioning System. It also has a an ambient light sensor and a digital compass. The Xperia also sports a 1200mAh which was quite an improvement to its predecessor the x10 mini.
Although not initially available, Multi-touch support was also added to several aftermarket firmware versions (ROMS) cough* nAa* cough MiniCM9 cough* .
Like nearly every device, in its day, the x8 attracted many people simply because of its specs. The S3 of its day
Physical Appearance
The Xperia line of mobile phones has always amazed critics with its design being second to none. This fact is what led many to believe the next Nexus phone/s will be designed by the same art team. The phone has a curved back with quite a boxed like front. Combining the generic phone look with a rather futuristic design gives the cellular device an original overall look. On purchasing the phone you are provided with two different coloured backs (varies depending on carrier and country).
User Friendliness
As mentioned previously, the mobile comes shipped with android 1.6 upgradable to 2.1. I can only comment on the 2.1 software seeing as this is the only one I have used.
Sony Ericson paid large amounts of attention to detail and although many users are against developers overhauling android, I believe this was a necessary step as the stock firmware runs flawlessly on the device and SE adds many feature that will make tasks which many believe common easier. I did feel that this generation of phones marked the death of Pay as you Go as many features are internet reliant and internet is impossible on P&G. In addition to this, the raw support for the phone gives advanced users satisfaction too. Not only does XDA support customization but SE does too! More phone developers should take a leaf out of Sony Ericson's book and offer support like they do.
Cost Efficiency
Nowadays, the price of android products seems to depreciate considerably faster than other rivals. This is to be expected seeing as the mobile phone market itself is considerably saturated and with more android variants entering each day cost/unit depreciation will be far greater than the iPhone branding. The phone has become a mid range low cost phone. I would say for a price as low as £80 in the UK, nearly all users will be appeased. The phone teaches users who were not particularly advanced, many things about android. Something the spoon feeding of iOS will never do.
Conclusion
The Xperia x8 is a great low cost phone for beginners to android as well as advanced users. The hardware is acceptable however people will become thirsty for more in this current day and age. Stunning visuals means that you will not be embarrassed in front of your friends and firmware is never an issue. Pay as you go may have been abandoned for the time being but seems to be getting adopted by Google with their latest jelly bean. With the Sony Ericson department no closed, phones like this just won't be produced anymore. Sony are still finding their feet but I think they are going in the HTC direction producing too many phones at once. If phone manufacturers worked upon the fundamentals like SE did, we would have the new breed of ultimate phones.
RATING: I give this phone a 7 jelly beans out of 10. I would nominate this phone as LCTOTY. (Low cost thing of the year) Actually it is a tie between this and toilet paper.
Thankyou for reading my review.
NOTE: Sometimes I find myself on XDA in the early hours of the morning providing the best possible. I sometimes do not pay attention and will get angry quickly. I never mean any disrespect to anyone. If I do cross the line I am sorry in advance. Please PM me and bring my comment to my attention. I will issue an apology ASAP. Even though many advanced XDA users have disappointed me I will always offer XDA the best. I am always trying to be as nice as possible regardless of what people do to anger me so feel free to ask for help with anything.
Sources
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Ericsson_Xperia_X8
Special Thanks to my good friend KidCarter93. Structural duplication rights are shared with him.
Special Thanks also to mf2112 for all his support.
Special Mention to IAmNice, lucastan96, SpyderX and RohinZaraki. Without them the x8 community would be a darker place.

XDA boring when you move away from Android

Although the title of the Portal says 'Android, Windows Phone, and Windows Mobile Development News, Information, and Howtos - XDA Developers' XDA is mainly Android driven. There's hardly any post/video about Windows Phone (apps) on the portal. :crying:
Ever since I moved to the Lumia 920, earlier this year, this place has been very boring for me. It seems nobody is interested in WP at all.
You might as well remove the Windows Phone and Windows Mobile news part from the title
[/rant] :angel:
Donny1987 said:
Although the title of the Portal says 'Android, Windows Phone, and Windows Mobile Development News, Information, and Howtos - XDA Developers' XDA is mainly Android driven. There's hardly any post/video about Windows Phone (apps) on the portal. :crying:
Ever since I moved to the Lumia 920, earlier this year, this place has been very boring for me. It seems nobody is interested in WP at all.
You might as well remove the Windows Phone and Windows Mobile news part from the title
[/rant] :angel:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get yourself over to MoDaCo - or get a new phone (android in case you weren't sure)
Sent from NEXUS⁴ via XDA app [AOKP\/\/hitehawkx]​
Blame Microsoft for making their OS useless to Developers; It's not the developers fault you can't flash on a Windows Phone.
ShadowLea said:
Blame Microsoft for making their OS useless to Developers; It's not the developers fault you can't flash on a Windows Phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't flash custom ROMs, therefore it's useless? The iOS community would like to have a word with you.
Tatanko said:
You can't flash custom ROMs, therefore it's useless? The iOS community would like to have a word with you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To a community dedicated to creating and flashing customROMs, yes, it's useless.
iOS is useless in itself; invalid argument.
ShadowLea said:
To a community dedicated to creating and flashing customROMs, yes, it's useless.
iOS is useless in itself; invalid argument.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ouch....lol, but brutally true in the context of open source modding, deving and overally platform growth.
And while WPs seem pretty nifty and even sleek (and back to the OPs lament) what can there be possibly to talk about when you're talking closed source platform? I mean, even to a certain extent Apple has a small 'Jailbroken' type community (albeit not as robust as Android's modding/hacking/flashing).
I suppose it's just a matter of Windows phones getting into enough peoples' hands and even then it'd have to be the super technical ones that would even have to take the interest in trying to 'crack it open', as it were.
Perhaps that is something MS should consider for the future success of WPs--maybe making it open source--as it may give them a foot-hold into the interest of many more people (....of course. we all know that won't happen anytime soon--if at all).
ShadowLea said:
iOS is useless in itself; invalid argument.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're so clever!!!
Thanks for the replies :cyclops:
There's more than flashing, there's also a lot of Android apps posts/reviews. Why are there no WP apps reviews or just WP news in general?
Come back to the light!
Tatanko said:
You can't flash custom ROMs, therefore it's useless? The iOS community would like to have a word with you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Useless to developers because it's closed - there's a post somewhere by Chainfire about how Samsung have tried (& failed) to stop developers from trying to root the S4 ...I haven't got a link to the post but I did copy some of it for reference here is a quote from the post -
"As some of you must have noticed, latest Samsung GT-I9500 firmwares carry a kernel configuration supposed to prevent SETUID privilege elevation.
Stock unmodified firmware with root is my preferred setup but also a strong dependency for all my development, for me this change is a massive setback if not a dealbreaker."
Sent from NEXUS⁴ via XDA app [AOKP\/\/hitehawkx]​
ShadowLea said:
Blame Microsoft for making their OS useless to Developers; It's not the developers fault you can't flash on a Windows Phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not even download an app and install,no filemanager.. windows os sucks...
If u want to have fun with xda u must have an Android
Sent from my GT-I9500 using xda app-developers app
Well Android obv has a huge market share and win mobile/ win phone extremely little. Since theres less phones out there to talk about obv there will be a relative ammount of posts on here lol. Although i do miss the old days of hacking windows mobile using regedit lol.
In previous generations, it was Windows Mobile. Now it's Android, and for several key reasons:
- Huge hardware selection/affordability (high-end, mid-range, low-end/budget)
- Huge software variety (different OEM skins/apps/AOSP)
- Frequent advancements in hardware (far surpasses the iPhone's hardware capabilities on high end models)
- Customization - I can change the launcher, theme, replace built-in apps, etc
- Open-sourced code; you get the code for the base of the OS/device kernel
etc, etc. It's not because "we hate Windows Phone." Windows Phone is smooth, but that's all it has going for it:
- Retardedly huge Metro font (sorry for using that word, but it's a waste of space). I don't really like the Metro UI overall. The launcher looks nice but that's about it, and I can replicate it on Android if I want.
- Closed source means the community cannot [easily] fix lingering issues
- Microsoft screwed first-gen Windows Phone owners by keeping them stuck on 7.5. Yay, you get a new launcher and that's it. Who's going to make Windows 7.5 apps when new phones are going to run 8? 7.5 isn't compatible with 8 apps.
- Harder to do simple things, such as set up MMS on several Windows Phone devices
- Lagging in some hardware areas; I can understand being efficient and only needing a dual-core Snapdragon S4 for example. But 720p screens only recently became supported.
- Basically, if you don't buy a Nokia WP8 device, you're missing out on most of the good (Nokia-exclusive apps).
- All the phones are the same. That would be great if they all got updated at the same time, but it's not the case. Yes, some phones have different screens, etc. But the software is exactly the same.
(I'm not hating on Windows Phone. I still think it's an incredibly smooth OS with a lot of potential, and choice is always a good thing. Just listing, from the perspective of someone who enjoys Android, why I can't use it on a daily basis.)
I can go on and on, but you get the gist of it. You can have stable and boring if you want, but at XDA we enjoy diversity, choice, customization, and most importantly the ability to do things our own way.
Cool
Sent from My S4 in BEASTMODE

Introducing tinyApps

I've lurked around these forums for a while, occasionally dabbling in various models that I've owned or had an interest in. I've now decided that it's high time a complete fleet of apps were developed with CM in mind.
Introducing tinyApps!
The concept is relatively simple. Cyanogen is often a means of experiencing a newer version of Android on a device that is otherwise unsupported. For example: I have an HTC Desire Z as a daily driver. I run CM10.1 (or android 4.2.2) and it performs pretty damned well. I've also owned much less powerful phones, such as the Optimus ME P350 from LG, on which I ran 4.0.4, and found most apps very demanding.
I'm going to be developing, over the course of several months, the following apps:
tRadio
tMusic
tWeb
tFiles
tFilms
and last, but by no means least, tGallery.
These are all applications that I have found to be reasonably demanding, or unsuccessful in meeting my expectations.
I'm gonna get paid!
I'm not going to canvas for donations, that isn't my style. Instead, I'm going to fund these apps by adverts. I'll be sure to keep these as unintrusive as possible, eg:
No full-screen adverts (if possible)
In the same place across all applications
placed so as to avoid accidental clicks
as static as possible, to avoid excess data charges
removable by a fee made as small as possible - e.g 50p UK sterling
I'm very keen to hear suggestions and feature requests, although please keep in mind that these apps are designed to be as small as possible. If all goes well, we can perhaps push for them to be included as part of CyanogenMod (Nobody ever said I wasn't aspirational, no?).
&Delinquent[$] said:
I've lurked around these forums for a while, occasionally dabbling in various models that I've owned or had an interest in. I've now decided that it's high time a complete fleet of apps were developed with CM in mind.
Introducing tinyApps!
The concept is relatively simple. Cyanogen is often a means of experiencing a newer version of Android on a device that is otherwise unsupported. For example: I have an HTC Desire Z as a daily driver. I run CM10.1 (or android 4.2.2) and it performs pretty damned well. I've also owned much less powerful phones, such as the Optimus ME P350 from LG, on which I ran 4.0.4, and found most apps very demanding.
I'm going to be developing, over the course of several months, the following apps:
tRadio
tMusic
tWeb
tFiles
tFilms
and last, but by no means least, tGallery.
These are all applications that I have found to be reasonably demanding, or unsuccessful in meeting my expectations.
I'm gonna get paid!
I'm not going to canvas for donations, that isn't my style. Instead, I'm going to fund these apps by adverts. I'll be sure to keep these as unintrusive as possible, eg:
No full-screen adverts (if possible)
In the same place across all applications
placed so as to avoid accidental clicks
as static as possible, to avoid excess data charges
removable by a fee made as small as possible - e.g 50p UK sterling
I'm very keen to hear suggestions and feature requests, although please keep in mind that these apps are designed to be as small as possible. If all goes well, we can perhaps push for them to be included as part of CyanogenMod (Nobody ever said I wasn't aspirational, no?).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting concept but really just an empty thread. It would be awesome if you could update others on what the project looks like and more detail!
If you ever need any help in designs and such, do contact me. I'm also interested in the development of (what now seems very alpha) the app. :good:
Nice.
I suggest that you can access that application in "small" window like Sony smart app do. I'd be great
Araragi said:
Nice.
I suggest that you can access that application in "small" window like Sony smart app do. I'd be great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thatll take a lot if effort though
XD.
I'd be great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its: That'll be great
Araragi said:
Nice.
I suggest that you can access that application in "small" window like Sony smart app do. I'd be great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll second this idea!
Also a video player or is that films?
OlinB said:
I'll second this idea!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Creating a Sony styled Small apps requires something along the Sony framework for those things to work so gd luck!
Look out! tRadio is coming sometime next month!
Interested to see what you have what in store
Sent from my C5303 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

[Sony] Xperia Open Devices Project

Sony Mobile is committed to supporting the open developer community, and one way to show this is by publishing parts of our code as well as selected tools developed by our internal developers.
For some of the Xperia™ devices, we provide Android™ Open Source Project (AOSP) device configurations on GitHub. This means that the software will be open for you as a developer to use and contribute to. This is a way for us to support the open Android community, and it is also a tool for us to facilitate and verify contributions to AOSP.
If you want to build AOSP for your unlocked Xperia device, you find all the resources you need in the sections below.
http://developer.sonymobile.com/knowledge-base/open-source/open-devices/
Unified 3.10 kernel sources
https://github.com/sonyxperiadev/kernel
Project git
https://github.com/sonyxperiadev/
Does the noise reduction of the camera is supported ?
snaky90 said:
Does the noise reduction of the camera is supported ?
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For now there is no camera
br
J
jerpelea said:
For now there is no camera
br
J
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Hmm, not having a camera is really bad =/
I mean, the Sony's Android™ Concept has a working camera right?
I guess we will have to wait until there is a workign camera!
There is any road map for camera release?
It would really help custom ROMs and etc!
Thanks
jerpelea said:
Sony Mobile is committed to supporting the open developer community,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It would be great to have some news regarding the project, as mentioned above.
Or, maybe a clear outline on what Sony is willing to deliver and what not.
As open device project has been active for a year now for this device at least.
And even though aosp source is fairly stable, there is no camera nor a workaround until a proper fix takes place.
It would be nice if Sony can show they are committed with the project,
As now it seems like they are not very committed and are relying mainly on volunteers to extend functionality: http://developer.sonymobile.com/2015/02/25/could-you-be-our-next-hero-open-source-developer/
Not having camera available is disheartening, since one of the attractions of choosing Sony is the camera. All the way back to Sony walkman phone and X10mini pro - Sony had a good camera.
And one of the reasons for choosing a z3-compact was the announcement of the Sony open developer project, but it had been almost a year without camera.
The worst thing is that Sony camera sensors are being used on devices not made by Sony showing better results, (Motorola , Samsung, even iPhone use them)
m0d said:
It would be great to have some news regarding the project, as mentioned above.
Or, maybe a clear outline on what Sony is willing to deliver and what not.
As open device project has been active for a year now for this device at least.
And even though aosp source is fairly stable, there is no camera nor a workaround until a proper fix takes place.
It would be nice if Sony can show they are committed with the project,
As now it seems like they are not very committed and are relying mainly on volunteers to extend functionality: http://developer.sonymobile.com/2015/02/25/could-you-be-our-next-hero-open-source-developer/
Not having camera available is disheartening, since one of the attractions of choosing Sony is the camera. All the way back to Sony walkman phone and X10mini pro - Sony had a good camera.
And one of the reasons for choosing a z3-compact was the announcement of the Sony open developer project, but it had been almost a year without camera.
The worst thing is that Sony camera sensors are being used on devices not made by Sony showing better results, (Motorola , Samsung, even iPhone use them)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The article you linked is an initiative to get people excited about development and help out. Sony's open source team (and many other volunteers who do not mind contributing, because that's the essence of open source) are working on fixes and workarounds, but on the outside, the usual "Soon™" sign is visible, as it always is with developers (check, for example, the AOSPA team).
As for the camera, many people find it lackluster even on stock ROMs. Camera performance, however, has nothing to do with what your expectations should be (not what they are, because that's clearly a wholly different thing) regarding the AOSP project Sony has going on -- the goal of the initiative is to provide a working AOSP base similar to that of Nexus devices (though in more than one way, the Sony team responsible for this has far exceeded that goal). This does not mean that things will just work (quite the contrary, really). When you bought the device, the Open Developer project should not have been a reason to be excited about the end result of the developers' efforts, but rather a sign of encouragement that you should contribute, and are indeed welcome to do so.
tl;dr: this project, like the rest of XDA, isn't about the goal, but about the journey. (except for maybe the new bootloaders but that's another thing)
someone755 said:
The article you linked is an initiative to get people excited about development and help out. Sony's open source team (and many other volunteers who do not mind contributing, because that's the essence of open source) are working on fixes and workarounds, but on the outside, the usual "Soon™" sign is visible, as it always is with developers (check, for example, the AOSPA team).
As for the camera, many people find it lackluster even on stock ROMs. Camera performance, however, has nothing to do with what your expectations should be (not what they are, because that's clearly a wholly different thing) regarding the AOSP project Sony has going on -- the goal of the initiative is to provide a working AOSP base similar to that of Nexus devices (though in more than one way, the Sony team responsible for this has far exceeded that goal). This does not mean that things will just work (quite the contrary, really). When you bought the device, the Open Developer project should not have been a reason to be excited about the end result of the developers' efforts, but rather a sign of encouragement that you should contribute, and are indeed welcome to do so.
tl;dr: this project, like the rest of XDA, isn't about the goal, but about the journey. (except for maybe the new bootloaders but that's another thing)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe, too, that the intiative by Sony is great and a good path to follow. I also understand that the volunteers do not mind, as you say.
I just wanted some clarification on Sony's commitment. If for example, Sony would provide a working camera base for developers to improve/enhance or do they expect the volunteers to use what is already provided to figure things out.
I believe that if the camera works, however basic implementation, more developers would be helping in creating something better and enhancing it.
Whereas now, developers are waiting for Sony to provide something which they might not be planning to provide, hence some clarification.
Regarding the camera, I am a little disappointed, that is all. As Sony used to have great cameras on their devices; however, recently other Manufacturers use Sony sensors with better results than Sony themselves (Stock included).
as a matter of fact, there are no custom roms right now with good enough camera, which means without the well known (contrary) fish eye bug, that can be used if you need a basic working camera. this is stopping most of the z3c users (like me) that like aosp feel to switch to custom. so imho either sony is not helping that much with camera code, or we don't have a single very good dev capable of providing a camera fix, don't know. either way, this is very very sad.
I've always used custom roms in my previous phones, with bugs here and there of course, but never had so big bugs preventing me using custom roms like in sony phones i had (sudden reboots affecting my old xperia T that took ages to be fixed, this camera bug now in z3c). this is "funny" considering sony is known to be dev friendly. so again i think we are just unlucky with development going on for this phone probably (like i was when i used the T)
so right now people who hate all the bloat coming in stock FW and need good enough camera must stay with stock, and find already debloated solutions (like mine for example).
on this argument, really hope sony concept rom will arrive to z3c too soon at least...
not blaming anyone of course, as I'm the first one who can't help with development unfortunately.. it is just sad that many other ****ty phones like many Samsung ones for example, much worse than sony's, have tons of good development going on.. but well we know most of the user base are just sheeps thinking the only existent phones to be bought are samsung or iphones, which means less user base for Sony and other more deserving manufacturers....
moly82 said:
as a matter of fact, there are no custom roms right now with good enough camera, which means without the well known (contrary) fish eye bug, that can be used if you need a basic working camera. this is stopping most of the z3c users (like me) that like aosp feel to switch to custom. so imho either sony is not helping that much with camera code, or we don't have a single very good dev capable of providing a camera fix, don't know. either way, this is very very sad.
I've always used custom roms in my previous phones, with bugs here and there of course, but never had so big bugs preventing me using custom roms like in sony phones i had (sudden reboots affecting my old xperia T that took ages to be fixed, this camera bug now in z3c). this is "funny" considering sony is known to be dev friendly. so again i think we are just unlucky with development going on for this phone probably (like i was when i used the T)
so right now people who hate all the bloat coming in stock FW and need good enough camera must stay with stock, and find already debloated solutions (like mine for example).
on this argument, really hope sony concept rom will arrive to z3c too soon at least...
not blaming anyone of course, as I'm the first one who can't help with development unfortunately.. it is just sad that many other ****ty phones like many Samsung ones for example, much worse than sony's, have tons of good development going on.. but well we know most of the user base are just sheeps thinking the only existent phones to be bought are samsung or iphones, which means less user base for Sony and other more deserving manufacturers....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not knowing anything about sony's product politics to me it seems quite a strategy that sony is pursueing. something like "we give almost everything to the freaks what they need in order to do some developement (on which we, sony, can benefit too). BUT almost means NOT everything ...". So there is no real alternative to using sony's "company rom"... if this is the case then all the developer friendly blabla is just fraud! they release aosp kernel and they do have all necessary software parts for camera sensor, of course ... so come on sony!
Now you have the opportunity to win Sony devices every 2 months
http://developer.sonymobile.com/knowledge-base/open-source/open-devices/hero-open-source-developers/
Happy cooking
https://plus.google.com/112116692753844849623/posts/GsD7K8kDpnm
Good news ! Thanks @davidteri91 !
Experimental Open Camera HAL for AOSP available !
http://developer.sonymobile.com/201...p-camera-available-for-experienced-developers
http://developer.sonymobile.com/201...-camera-available-for-experienced-developers/
enjoy
J
jerpelea said:
http://developer.sonymobile.com/201...-camera-available-for-experienced-developers/
enjoy
J
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Enjoy what? By Sony's own addmission, a half-assed framework that will render sub-par photos and cause crashes?
Look, no one is asking for code for special processing algorithms or hacks for DRM keys. Hobbyist developers need a functional AOSP code base so they can go from there. This isn't it.
Sony has given little more than lip-service to the AOSP program, and this is a typical example. IMO, come back with something useful, or don't come back at all. So far, the entire program has been a steaming load of crap.
jerpelea said:
Now you have the opportunity to win Sony devices every 2 months
http://developer.sonymobile.com/knowledge-base/open-source/open-devices/hero-open-source-developers/
Happy cooking
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I don't, per terms and conditions, because I live in a place Sony chooses not to have a market in.
More half-assed Sony hype.
Sony has released an open-source camera to AOSP rom
http://developer.sonymobile.com/201...-camera-available-for-experienced-developers/
attn1 said:
Enjoy what? By Sony's own addmission, a half-assed framework that will render sub-par photos and cause crashes?
Look, no one is asking for code for special processing algorithms or hacks for DRM keys. Hobbyist developers need a functional AOSP code base so they can go from there. This isn't it.
Sony has given little more than lip-service to the AOSP program, and this is a typical example. IMO, come back with something useful, or don't come back at all. So far, the entire program has been a steaming load of crap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
attn1 said:
No, I don't, per terms and conditions, because I live in a place Sony chooses not to have a market in.
More half-assed Sony hype.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You act like Sony owes you anything lol. Sony is having the best developer support, and yet you cry like a little girl. Did you ever consider that A company is not able to release software due to licenses?
Is there any other vendor providing ANY help with AOSP? No! Is there any other vendor giving free phones to developers for working on AOSP sources? No! Yet, other provides do not grant you the warranty you deserve for a broken HW button because your Software currupted it.. Yeah sure.
Stop crying. You're a freaking RD, one should expect you to KNOW how to act.
Actually, the camera have been released like it is because it's meant as a preview for developers, like you can read on the official blog post.
Download and see what you can find in there, the compare it with Sony stock ROMs. If you are an experienced developer, you will understand how much work was needed to get that.
Preview for developers actually means "showing you the actual progress to get help, instead of working alone and releasing when perfect and complete".
C'mon, don't flame. It's not necessary.
Peace!
-- kholk
kholk said:
Actually, the camera have been released like it is because it's meant as a preview for developers, like you can read on the official blog post.
Download and see what you can find in there, the compare it with Sony stock ROMs. If you are an experienced developer, you will understand how much work was needed to get that.
Preview for developers actually means "showing you the actual progress to get help, instead of working alone and releasing when perfect and complete".
C'mon, don't flame. It's not necessary.
Peace!
-- kholk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. I really don't know how he doesn't understand what "developer preview means". Some of the Android dev previews were pretty crappy too - is he going to flame Google for that too?
This is the first time, in history, that any OEM has released a camera HAL specifically designed for AOSP-based projects (other than Nexus devices, of course). It's the first time in history an official representative of an OEM has solicited constructive feedback from the community on improving a closed-source component. Yeah, I know everyone would love for these blobs to be open source, but the reality is - Even after they stumbled with the 808/810, Qualcomm has the entire mobile industry by the balls by virtue of having the only viable chipsets out there for most devices, and if they want mm-camera to be closed source, mm-camera will be closed source and right now there's not much anyone can do about it. It's sad to say that Qualcomm is the most open-source friendly SoC manufacturer out there... Which isn't saying much. (If you want to know why David's video color corruption fix was not immediately integrated into the AOSP project - blame Qualcomm. The blobs he used to fix the issue are under a redistribution license that prevents Alin from distributing them. Technically David can't legally give out those blobs to anyone, they're for personal use, but Qualcomm rarely goes after individuals.)
To everyone complaining - rather than *****ing, try to come up with specific feedback that can improve the next release.
I'm going to be trying soon to see if RAW support is working - if it isn't, that IS planned. If you're able to capture DNG images with your device, then get cracking on profiling the optical system!
http://lensfun.sourceforge.net/calibration/ - Some information on distortion profiling of a lens. Also, if you use hugin and take multiple photos properly arranged for a panorama, hugin will also perform photometric (vignetting) profiling too. A proper vignetting/distortion profile for each sensor will be a major step forward - short-term it means you can correct photos to look good using lensfun and a RAW converter, long-term the profiles will hopefully be integratable into the camera HAL. (what would be REALLY awesome is if Alin can figure out a way to implement a lensfun profile loader)
Get a colorchecker - I have http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005IUBU2O arriving tomorrow for example. It will allow you to determine your camera's color calibration matrix (referred to simply as "color matrix" in ufraw). I'll try to provide some proper tutorials on this once I've done it on my Z3.

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