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Hi Guys,
I now own a HTC TP/Raphael for two weeks and am extraordinarely happy with it! I waited about 1.5 years to finally find a machine that mets all my needs and wishes.
I want to thanks all you guys, because I read this forum months before I finally bought the thing and was very pleased with all the info, pro and con, you all posted!
I bought mine in Holland with Tomtom v7 bundled.
Common problems I faced and how I solved them:
1) Problem: Slow GPS Fix (10 min). Solution: Found Quick GPS pre installed on my device, ran it and have a fix now within a cool minute.
2) Problem: HTC picks up or cancels incoming call in trousers pocket. Solution: Installed AnswerDisabler 0.5.1 Thanks to the programmer! It works a treat!
So now I can clear my jacket pockets of the weight of a huge HP iPAQ 4700HX and my compact camera Canon IXUS 850. (The latter I still take with me on occasion, but for the odd picture opportunity, the HTC suffices.)
I'm wowing my friends on a regular basis with this device, showing of the nice TF3D interface and G sensor app's.
Okay, I might still have a small inconvenience left, but I will post that in a separate thread.
Thanks again and keep up all the good work!
Emiel Ratelband?
I too am a happy customer with my Touch Pro.
I faced a few slightly different inconveniences:
1. The Web Browser tab in the TouchFlo does not display the graphics. This is the screen where the YouTube icon. I've update the graphics with GIF files of a few of my more common websites and reduced the size of the images. Works after a power down but not after a reset.
2. Battery performance is still not as good as I was hoping but definitely better then my Dopod C730. I've already done the performance tweaks and this has indeed improved the battery performance. I use the device with push mail for my office email. I also enable 3G and disable Bluetooth.
3. Screen brightness under direct sunlight is bad. Can't do much about that one.
4. The TouchFlo sometimes "hang" with a black screen or frozen home screen. Haven't figured out why yet.
Other than that, I love my new toy.
I am another happy customer and the issue of the battery I dont have actually... I am in Hong Kong and bot the TP at the sole authorized retailer and not a parallel import so therefore my TP is branded which is a pain in the butt. I don’t want to flash the ROM as I’m a newbi at WM stuff so if I screw anything up, I’m dead. Also I don’t know how to get into the registry even if I install Total Commander and stuff… but back to your question….
My beef:
1) I don’t use the TP 3D and I use the standard WM screen. However, ONLY the browser Opera has the auto rotate function unless I slide out the key pad…. How annoying is that? I have found a forced rotate application which is SPB Phone Suite but I don’t want to use this as out of this entire program I only want is the force rotation function… so I’m still searching if there is a app to just force rotate the screen.
3. You can actually, if it is on auto adjust brightness. Turn it off because it toggles between 30-70% which means that you have 30% more brightness if you adjust it yourself with the slider.
@sgsdebruin: No, no Emil Ratelband. (Dutch happy-guru a few years back). Just thought it would be polite to let all the people, who spent time to do this stuff for the community, know that it's appreciated. I know it works for me if others are being appreciative so...
@kelvgoh:
1) No problem for me.
2) Battery performance could be better, yes, but I'll have it on the usb a lot anyway for synchronizing with Outlook at work, so it's not so big of a deal. I'm also thinking that battery life of a device is inversely proportional to the screen resolution.
3) Screen readibility in sunlight. Yeah, that's not so good. The screen of the device is not anti-reflective at all, what makes it really sparkle if you haven't reflections in it, but if you do, then it's bad. (See also some of the Youtube video's of the HTC. In many occasions you can clearly see the camera it's filmed with.)
4) I lucked out there too. No problem.
Fact remains that some HTC TP do have weird problems (1 and 4) and others don't. You can read more of those freak problems on the forum. It looks like the production process is not making consistent devices every time.
Mr.Sir said:
3. You can actually, if it is on auto adjust brightness. Turn it off because it toggles between 30-70% which means that you have 30% more brightness if you adjust it yourself with the slider.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, that also increases the battery usage. Sigh, can't have everything.
hvwtp said:
@sgsdebruin: No, no Emil Ratelband. (Dutch happy-guru a few years back). Just thought it would be polite to let all the people, who spent time to do this stuff for the community, know that it's appreciated. I know it works for me if others are being appreciative so...
@kelvgoh:
1) No problem for me.
2) Battery performance could be better, yes, but I'll have it on the usb a lot anyway for synchronizing with Outlook at work, so it's not so big of a deal. I'm also thinking that battery life of a device is inversely proportional to the screen resolution.
3) Screen readibility in sunlight. Yeah, that's not so good. The screen of the device is not anti-reflective at all, what makes it really sparkle if you haven't reflections in it, but if you do, then it's bad. (See also some of the Youtube video's of the HTC. In many occasions you can clearly see the camera it's filmed with.)
4) I lucked out there too. No problem.
Fact remains that some HTC TP do have weird problems (1 and 4) and others don't. You can read more of those freak problems on the forum. It looks like the production process is not making consistent devices every time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Must try and tweak the device more. Thanks for sharing.
On my unrooted phone the "Steamy Window" application worked fine
If I pressed a little it would make a little line in the "steam", and if I were to push my thumb down on a large area, it would detect that and make a "thumb" sized print.
Now using JF1.41 no matter what I do it only makes a TINY TINY line, about a pixel or two in size.
Did the modification of the screen change an api that the Steamy Window app is using to work different?
Well, maybe you should go back to an unrooted phone so that you can play with your steamy window....
LPChris, I would expect a little more maturity from a "senior member"
I am trying to contribute to make JF the best it can be. Maybe your just having a bad night or something, but theres no need to be so childish.
:ed:
Looking through your posts it seems like your just having a bad night
Back on topic:
While this may be a stupid little problem with one application. Should finger-area sensitive applications continue to be made this could isolate JF1.41 from the market. Naturally I dont care much for steamy window, but I would like to prevent other issues in more... useful... applications
I've seen some weirdness where my home screen has a jitter. I've also had accuracy issues with clicking menu items and buttons. I'm going to backup my phone and load JF 1.31 back on to see if it is the screen or the img.
Interesting...I just reflashed with 1.41 RC30 and the problem went away. I was using the fade to blue theme .99.
sjbayer3 said:
On my unrooted phone the "Steamy Window" application worked fine
If I pressed a little it would make a little line in the "steam", and if I were to push my thumb down on a large area, it would detect that and make a "thumb" sized print.
Now using JF1.41 no matter what I do it only makes a TINY TINY line, about a pixel or two in size.
Did the modification of the screen change an api that the Steamy Window app is using to work different?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ditto about LPChris lol, a lot of his posts sound like that, but yeah I noticed the same thing about the steamy window app before and after using JF 1.41.
Steamy window, LOL! sorry guys. anyway keep up the great work.
Yes, this is a trivial example, but it does identify a real issue.
I was reading through the various google android groups last night and I ran into some info that seems to addresses this issue. From what I was able to gather, the JF1.x implementation of multi-touch uses a community hack that reassigns the value that normally keeps track of the size of the touch input. This value is now used to keep track of the distance between two touches. (see: http://groups.google.co.uk/group/android-platform/browse_thread/thread/209b512a9fdf7367?hl=en)
your Steamy Window app seems to make use of the size value as it was originally designed. Now with the change, with only one finger input, this value is set to some minimum, producing a thin line.
To test this theory, see if when you touch the screen with two fingers the size of the mark gets bigger.
Why can't a capability bit or other mechanism be defined that could be used to indicate whether or not an application were multi-touch aware, so that the touch handling behavior at the lower levels would revert to "standard" behavior for normal (non-multi-touch) apps? Trying to make the multi-touch hack fully backwards compatible may not be practical.
I tested your idea about multituch possibly fixing steamy window
My only results are really strange.
If I touch with two fingers it will make a line about the width of my 2 fingers, but its located in the top left, no matter where my fingers actually are. Furthermore the line isnt straight its curved.
Now, after my first touch, it seems if I touch it again it just crashes.
ex-MN said:
From what I was able to gather, the JF1.x implementation of multi-touch uses a community hack that reassigns the value that normally keeps track of the size of the touch input. This value is now used to keep track of the distance between two touches. (see: http://groups.google.co.uk/group/android-platform/browse_thread/thread/209b512a9fdf7367?hl=en)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Edit: Hmm... the x-y data of the second finger is stored in separate fields. I think the usage of the size field is just as a boolean to tell multitouch capable programs that second finger data is being sent.
themes and JF RC versions. be careful
TheDudeOfLife said:
I've seen some weirdness where my home screen has a jitter. I've also had accuracy issues with clicking menu items and buttons. I'm going to backup my phone and load JF 1.31 back on to see if it is the screen or the img.
Interesting...I just reflashed with 1.41 RC30 and the problem went away. I was using the fade to blue theme .99.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it seems as tho themes have to be matched to the rom, a theme for 1,30 may flake out on 1.41, most of the themes I have seen and used so far were marked as to which rom the were intended to theme...
BhanG
bhang said:
it seems as tho themes have to be matched to the rom, a theme for 1,30 may flake out on 1.41, most of the themes I have seen and used so far were marked as to which rom the were intended to theme...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After some more testing I have this same issue on 2 1.41 compatible themes (rusty metal and fade to blue) I am going to go back to themeless 1.41 but I think it is more related to the multitouch 'hack' than the theme themselves. I find it hard to believe that a bunch of icons could mess this up. I watches my screen jitter between the left and right screen for 3 minutes today before I just performed a soft reset on my phone.
Note: I also applied each theme from a fresh flash of 1.41...not on top of each other.
this happens with screen crack also, but it doesnt affect me that much until i start not being able to select stuff. i know it may be important its just not to me... yet *knocks on wood*
Yeah Ive noticed it too..
I thought that it was just the app at first.
I might be switching back to .31 then at least til this gets fixed.
Steamy window def is NOT reading my fingers location or size properly.
I've also seen it affect touch paint found in the API Demos. Doesn't even register touch anymore.
It appears multi-touch is premature at this point and to implement multi-touch throughout the OS and not just the browser like everyone seems to think isnt good. It is definitely is throughout the OS and probably will affect any application that uses the second touch value to register touch size.
My other concern is that dev's won't take this hacked multi-touch into account so they will continue to write programs that won't be compatible since its not the "norm"
Taken from and android forum...this is my biggest concern
"Please think about soft keyboards when considering multi-touch APIs,
where the problem isn't detecting the distance between two finger, but
rather is allowing a 2nd finger (or thumb) to come down on a 2nd key
before the first finger (or thumb) has been released. The proposed
API to provide only a centroid and the distance between fingers won't
work at all for this sort of application.
I think you'd ultimately want to package this as additional
GestureDetector subclasses, depending on whether the type of gesture
detection wanted was pinch/zoom or multiple/overlapping taps.
Keyboards (and maybe games) would use one class, browsers another.
Providing the right information from a touch panel to drive either
detector might be challenging, especially if the panel provides
'unpaired' x and y coordinates rather than individual touch locations,
but I believe it could be done. "
JesusFreke,
Any thoughts on this?
Yeah lets hear what JF's got to say.
I originally thought that the multitouch was embedded in the browser, It's too soon to have it throughout the entire OS...
How about 1.41=with multitouch and 1.42=without
I've installed JF1.41 and I have an unusual bug....sometimes the screen behaves like it isn't calibrated..i press the screen on a button and it is pressed another one....have anyone encoutered this problem?
I invite everyone to do the following to find out how ur touch registers on ur screen. Open anycut. Get it if u don't have it.
Click activity and find raw image viewer. Click ok and then click on the shortcut.
Now start moving your finger around and see the results.
Let's all post our results here so we can figure this out.
Post in the same format as me:
ROM: JF1.41
1 finger - it surpisingly followed my finger perfectly. It only registered the very center point of my finger.
2 fingers - it appears that it made the same point as the 1 finger, however now the point was exactly in between my fingers and stayed there as I moved them around.
Ok so now we need ppl with stock rc30 and 1.31 so we can test this out!
You wanna have some real fun? Try it with 3 or 4 fingers.. It goes nuts..
How hard would it be to make a app that runs in the back round that works like the new ipod's touch screen rotation feature,
For those who don't known you place a finger and thumb at opposite ends in the corners so top left, bottom right, and twist right or left, and the screen rotates that direction in which you twist, i and im sure others will find this great to have, i normally have screen rotation off, but sometimes need it for messaging and internet etc.
as you can see in this little apple video here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZnSKvMP14A
Depends on the phone hardware...
But, in my opinion a useless feature. But then again a normally use the double tap to zoom on the browser.
Im not on about zooming, im on about rotating the screen, with out having to go back and turn it on and off from the home screen lol.
evilkorn said:
Depends on the phone hardware...
But, in my opinion a useless feature. But then again a normally use the double tap to zoom on the browser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you even bother to read the OP or even the the thread's topic? He's talking about screen rotation not zooming.
I love how people declare ideas and apps as "useless" just because *they* wouldn't use it.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
I'd like this feature too. I dont like switching rotation on and off, but i sometimes need too. Having it off, and use fingers to rotate would be a good solution.
Trouble in programming this is prolly that it is hard to not let it collide with other apps. (what if another app uses this multi-touch-gesture?) whitelisting apps is an option at this point in time, cause i dont know of very much apps that use this gesture, but they could become more popular with all the new multitouch devices out there
nolageek said:
Did you even bother to read the OP or even the the thread's topic? He's talking about screen rotation not zooming.
I love how people declare ideas and apps as "useless" just because *they* wouldn't use it.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you misunderstood what he meant. The way I understand it, he only mentioned the zooming with double-tap to signal that he doesn't even use multi-touch to zoom within the browser; henceforth, he finds the idea of multi-touch rotation useless.
And to be totally honest, I find it useless too. The only reason the ipod nano has multi-touch rotation, that I can guess, is because they couldn't fit an accelerometer in such a small space and refused to change the dimensions. Either that, or just something else to cut their costs and make more of a profit.
Id love to see something like this. I too keep auto rotation off, but being able to rotate with a simple gesture would be awesome!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
I would also like this very much.
overthinkingme said:
I would also like this very much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too ....
nolageek said:
Did you even bother to read the OP or even the the thread's topic? He's talking about screen rotation not zooming.
I love how people declare ideas and apps as "useless" just because *they* wouldn't use it.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did YOU even read my post?! I said why it might not work, then proceeded to post MY OPINION!
I could have said it worse like: Don't be lazy and leave it on and rotate the damn phone with your hand.
That ipod touch probably just does rotate by touch because it doesn't have an accelerometer to know when you've physically rotated the device.
Now a way of disabling accelerometer auto rotation would be nice for when I want to do something like read an eBook while laying on my side.
Actually, the iPod Touch DOES have an accelerometer, as does the new nano. The new nano uses its accelerometer to detect when you shake it for "shuffle on shake." WHy they couldn't use it to detect orientation of the iPod, I have no clue. But the iPod touch DOES do auto-rotate. I know this b/c my 1st gen touch does this for many of its apps (which I hardly use.... it's a glorified mac and apple tv remote now).
I think this could be a useful app. I don't like certain apps to rotate and as such turn auto-rotate on and off, but with auto-rotate off I sometimes wish I COULD rotate the screen in certain instances. Something like this would be pretty nice. It'd have to be light on the cpu though and not collide with other gestures (the only gesture I have seen on my Droid X that are multi-touch is the pinch-zoom.... all the other gestures are single touch ones) that are multi-touch.
I'd say go for developing this app. I'd be pretty cool PLUS you'd learn alot about how android handles gestures and such.
I would really like such a feature, iam actually working on an app/widget that turns the screen manually, because just sometimes you need it landscape but dont want to activate the auto-orientation...
I am with this idea 100%. I find the auto-rotate waaaay too sensitive & it rotates constantly when I don't want it to. So I turned mine off. But there are rare occasions when you want to rotate (like looking at pictures) and I have to go into a widget to turn it on & turn it back off after.
A manual rotate would be nice.
PS - A sensitivity thing for rotation would be nice too - ie, only rotate when you're 85 degrees + sideways instead of rotating with like a 15 degree tilt.
Mine will auto rotate at times (my g1 and iPod touch do this too btw) when I pull minor G's while driving (like hairpin u-turns or simply having fun in the curves ). Then again, these maneuvers are ones that can't be pulled in your generic automatic or road boat.
Wrx's & STi's: fooling accelerometers daily
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
add my name to the list of people that would love to see this!
Hmm.. Would be a fun project to start learning android programming...
Now if only I had some time to spare...
This feature would be very useful, why?
- Auto-rotate : since it's called "auto", that means you can not control your screen with rotation. I usually lie on the bed and use the phone for reading, web browsing and I really don't want my screen from keeping rotating. You would say I should distable the auto-rotation, right? But I don't wanna keep doing that.
A manual gesture would be really nice and very USEFUL!
I think the sensitivity option would really be the best. Not saying I wouldn't use the finger way but I think the "auto" rotation should just work better.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
My problems are that it is to slow and that when i am lying on my side surfing it auto rotates.
I am actually trying to find a way to switch it manually but all ways i try wont work
I am having problems with the swipe down Notification bar on my Desire HD. I would have posted it in there, but this is a general problem, as I have seen it on several android phones in other forums. However, the ones I have seen are all HTC. Whether this is a manufacturer related issue I do not know.
Put quite simply; it won't slide down in portrait. But when I switch to landscape it works perfectly fine.
One of the suggestions was to use Draw Pad and see if there were any deadspots on the touchscreen. So I go nuts, and find a bar about half an inch on the top of the screen that isn't responding, unless I flick upwards quite quickly. But it's not a deadspot, as when I'm using that part of the phone in landscape it works perfectly. I can also swipe down in landscape from the corner (top right) perfect as well. So I would say it can't be the hardware.
The last time the notification bar worked was when I was in Tweetdeck, and swiped like mad through a load of tweets to class them as 'Read'. I've since uninstalled Tweetdeck, restarted my phone (both by using Restart and by removing the battery), and returned the phone to Factory Settings, but nothing works.
I understand that I can install a ROM as a last resort, but I am pretty sure that there must be an app that can reset the touchscreen calibration or something similar, to reset the dimensions of the screen when it's in portrait, or a hidden setting that can reset it. My phone isn't rooted, so I would much rather fix the problem, rather than overwrite it to save the extra work when I wouldn't really appreciate a rooted phone with a custom ROM.
I am running Android 2.3.3 with HTC Sense 2.1. My Kernel Version is 2.6.35.10-gd2564fb | htc-kernel(at symbol)and18-2 #1. The build number is 2.50.405.2 CL87995 release-keys.
(The (at symbol) is because I am new and outside links are forbidden for new users)
My phone isn't rooted, however I am not averse to doing so if it helps solve the problem. I have minimal experience with the Terminal, however, so if it is required, I could do with instructions rather than 'do X and Y'.
Thanks, and sorry for the wall of text.
Right, I've got a black One S with android 4.0.3 and sense 4, all like new (as it is). I don't fancy rooting it and don't really want to change from the HTC Rom, but the backlight in the camera annoys me. On the touch pro2 with the HTC stuff, I'm certain there was an option in settings to keep the screen backlight down when in the camera. On the Trophy that followed, I couldn't control it, because, let's face it, you can't control much in WP7. however, switching to the one S and android, I expected being able to keep the backlight down.
Why is this frustrating me? I don't like.being blinded by the viewfinder, and I don't want to kill the battery any more than I have to. So, is there a way to keep the phone's backlight down while in the HTC camera app?
Okay, now I know everyone has ignored this thread but I think I've discovered a way. So here's the setup:
HTC One S
System brightness set to lowest
A 4 digit screen-lock password
So I have the passcode set on the 15 minute max timeout, so, the phone locked itself, and I dragged the camera icon on the lockscreen into the ring. Naturally, despite being locked, it still allows use of the camera. Now, it may just be my eyes, but I'm certain I noticed a distance difference in brightness. That is, the screen seemed a lot dimmer when the camera app was being accessed from behind the lock rather than unlocked.
I think the brightness is ok lol
Sent from my HTC One S using xda premium
AMOLED displays as the one in One S doesnt have backlights. But there is a mod that lowers the values when using auto brightness since the defaults are a bit high, not especially made for in-camera though. Check for it in Tweak Machine thread in apps and themes forums.
k1llacanon said:
I think the brightness is ok lol
Sent from my HTC One S using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess most people aren't that fussed about the brightness, but the battery did seem to last a lot longer when recording 1080p video with the lower brightness.
frdd said:
AMOLED displays as the one in One S doesnt have backlights. But there is a mod that lowers the values when using auto brightness since the defaults are a bit high, not especially made for in-camera though. Check for it in Tweak Machine thread in apps and themes forums.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does that require root access? From what I can see it does, and I guess that too would be helpful for the majority, but my phone isn't rooted. Mainly because I like the HTC Sense camera interface so much
Yeah you must flash it from custom recovery so at least unlocked boot loader required. Why not try a sense based ROM? They all keep the awesome HTC camera and its snappiness
Unfortunately with the One S update I finally received last night bringing it up from Android 4.0.3 to 4.0.4 and Sense 4.1, HTC have now removed the incredibly helpful 'bug' of the brightness staying down in the camera if it is launched from the lockscreen with a password set. Thanks a lot HTC, you excell yourselves with stupidity once again.
Sent from my HTC One S using xda premium
Bump. Recording lectures is impossible due to HTC's stupidity. The 100% screen brightness not only kills the battery before lecture ends, but it's extremely distracting for people behind me (especially if room is dark during powerpoint presentations).
This has to be turned down. Ideally, once set up, the phone should be able to record video with the screen OFF. Or at least with brightness on min. Surely there's a mod or a hack for this?
curiousGeorge said:
Bump. Recording lectures is impossible due to HTC's stupidity. The 100% screen brightness not only kills the battery before lecture ends, but it's extremely distracting for people behind me (especially if room is dark during powerpoint presentations).
This has to be turned down. Ideally, once set up, the phone should be able to record video with the screen OFF. Or at least with brightness on min. Surely there's a mod or a hack for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi,
Firstly, I'm glad that I'm not alone in this. As you said, it is extremely frustrating as not only is the bright screen distracting for others and makes you look foolish, the battery hardly lasts any time at all. I contacted HTC to see if they could add a brightness slider, their customer support rep said the technical team would get in touch with me - they haven't.
However, on the positive side, I have found two apps which don't allow you to record with lower brightness, they up the ante to your other suggestion, having the screen off. I'd always assumed that cameras on phones couldn't work with the screen off because I thought the phone went into proper sleep. Turns out that the camera can stay active. There are many poor apps on Play, but I found two which offer free (very limited functionality, but allows you to check that the app works with your phone) versions and rather expensive pro versions. I tried both the free versions and liked the second one I tried so much that I bought it.
The first one I found was (I don't know why they assume people are using their cameras solely for nefarious purposes - some of us do have legitimate reasons and battery life concerns) 'Hidden Camera Spy Camera', Play link (Lite version link is in their description). This one worked ok, but took a while to configure and doesn't have the nicest interface. So I continued hunting and came across an even better app:
Secret Video Recorder Pro (Lite version listed at the side in the More by this Developer panel): This app is even more elegant. I tried the lite version and found that it worked well, so I then decided to buy the full version (apparently it's currently 50% off, but still pretty expensive - well worth it though). After going through the settings, I set it to use the rear camera and force HD recording. I then tapped the icon on the homescreen, it notified me and then just ran in the notification area. I then turned the screen off, whirled the phone around my room, turned the phone back on and tapped on the notification to stop it. I then checked the video and to my amazement, it had worked! (on an unrooted, still carrier locked, black One S running the latest official updated OS (Android 4.0.4 and Sense 4.1))
When I dragged the app into the fixed Sense homescreen dock, originally it displayed nothing, even after rebooting the phone. However, after Sense crashed and showed me a message saying Sense had crashed, it even worked from the lockscreen. If you have the 'Show icon' enabled in the SVR Preferences, you can then tell from the lockscreen that it is actually recording as you can see the icon in the notification bar.
I'm sorry for rambling on and on, but I think SVR just got into my top 5 apps of all time list as it is unbelievably flawless (apart from the price )
biggles1000 said:
hi,
Firstly, I'm glad that I'm not alone in this. As you said, it is extremely frustrating as not only is the bright screen distracting for others and makes you look foolish, the battery hardly lasts any time at all. I contacted HTC to see if they could add a brightness slider, their customer support rep said the technical team would get in touch with me - they haven't.
However, on the positive side, I have found two apps which don't allow you to record with lower brightness, they up the ante to your other suggestion, having the screen off. I'd always assumed that cameras on phones couldn't work with the screen off because I thought the phone went into proper sleep. Turns out that the camera can stay active. There are many poor apps on Play, but I found two which offer free (very limited functionality, but allows you to check that the app works with your phone) versions and rather expensive pro versions. I tried both the free versions and liked the second one I tried so much that I bought it.
The first one I found was (I don't know why they assume people are using their cameras solely for nefarious purposes - some of us do have legitimate reasons and battery life concerns) 'Hidden Camera Spy Camera', Play link (Lite version link is in their description). This one worked ok, but took a while to configure and doesn't have the nicest interface. So I continued hunting and came across an even better app:
Secret Video Recorder Pro (Lite version listed at the side in the More by this Developer panel): This app is even more elegant. I tried the lite version and found that it worked well, so I then decided to buy the full version (apparently it's currently 50% off, but still pretty expensive - well worth it though). After going through the settings, I set it to use the rear camera and force HD recording. I then tapped the icon on the homescreen, it notified me and then just ran in the notification area. I then turned the screen off, whirled the phone around my room, turned the phone back on and tapped on the notification to stop it. I then checked the video and to my amazement, it had worked! (on an unrooted, still carrier locked, black One S running the latest official updated OS (Android 4.0.4 and Sense 4.1))
When I dragged the app into the fixed Sense homescreen dock, originally it displayed nothing, even after rebooting the phone. However, after Sense crashed and showed me a message saying Sense had crashed, it even worked from the lockscreen. If you have the 'Show icon' enabled in the SVR Preferences, you can then tell from the lockscreen that it is actually recording as you can see the icon in the notification bar.
I'm sorry for rambling on and on, but I think SVR just got into my top 5 apps of all time list as it is unbelievably flawless (apart from the price )
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Doesn't using SVR defeat your original purpose? It's not using the Sense camera, it's using it's own implementation? At that rate, any aftermarket camera should work and allow you to use default screen brightness.
el_smurfo said:
Doesn't using SVR defeat your original purpose? It's not using the Sense camera, it's using it's own implementation? At that rate, any aftermarket camera should work and allow you to use default screen brightness.
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Unfortunately, yes, it does. SVR is sort of a compromise for me at the moment as I can save battery life but I do miss out on all the Sense camera features. It would be great if HTC do actually listen to my request and implement it, given how simple a request it is, but they appear to be constantly so far ahead with all their development process that I doubt they'd include it in the the Android 4.1 release scheduled for this month
SVR is on one end of the scale of what I'd like to do with the camera (save the battery) and the Sense camera is on the other end (use the camera). Where I'd like HTC to place us is in the middle of those two, with the ability to use the Sense camera but in a power-efficient manner (such as being able to record a video but take stills at the same time, with the battery outlasting the meager storage space).