[GAME][1.6] Twisted fingers - Android Apps and Games

Hello everybody.
I've recently published a small game. More a prototype, but it's already playable. Basically it's a finger twister.
market.android.com/details?id=doo.twistedfingers
Disclaimer in advance. Main requirement is that device must support *at least* 4 simultaneous touches. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Also even if it's 1.6+, I doubt small screens are anything you'd like to do four-finger-gestures with. So there's high chance I'll republish it with 800x480 as minimum requirement later, since there it starts making sense. But so far I can't virtually say what's playable what's not.
So please have a look and I would really appreciate feedback on gameplay, functionality, usability and all. Especially on tablets. I've tested it on one phone only and emulators are no big help when it comes to multitouch.
If i've done it right, early adopters/helpers will automatically be promoted to ad-free users when and if that happens.
Thanks in advance and remember: 4 acne spots is good. At least in twisted fingers.
Cheers,
Doo.
PS. I really hope this doesn't qualifies as spam

Related

Interesting New UI - Nexus

here is the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EKlV2IG7Hg&feature=player_embedded
looks like its on the omnia..
Very fast and smooth!
When we will see something like that on WM??
It looks like they are maybe selling the tools to be able to create things like that.
http://www.tat.se/site/media/news.html
orb3000 said:
Very fast and smooth!
When we will see something like that on WM??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im sure wm7 would be fast and smooth!
alexsandros said:
im sure wm7 would be fast and smooth!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hope you´re right!
I have my doubts about it...
Theres a whole slew of videos by TaT on there (youtube) some of them are pretty cool, they should release some software rather than making these concept videos. Either that or maybe they are just trying to get MS attention
Its on a Samsung (meaning most likely a WM phone)... and in the youtube comments, the uploader said that it is for WM, Android, and S60... MS just needs to adopt that UI completely... and put pressure on phone companies to make CAPACITIVE touch phones... Resistive ones will NEVER be as smooth... Or maybe they should just invest in "nano" IR technology for touch screens so its truly multitouch...
I understand these are concept videos... so does that mean they are not functional as of now?... I would try to imitate a UI like that except I only know .NET and not OpenGL ES... and I dont trust .NET with speed or stability... :-/...
Edit:
More videos at
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAstonishingTribe
Seems like this company just creates UI concepts which never release. Hmmm... Maybe they just like people drooling on their keyboard, but never being satisfied :-?...
Edit2:
I like this one too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIkQguTRWgM&feature=related
really like this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SImOIMcMlk&feature=related
Hope they actually release those UI rather than the concept.
I feel like the Nexus UI is actually under development because the person is showing it on actual hardware... The other videos were just software movies (no hardware around them)... However, I feel like this UI will only support TI processors such as the one on Omnia and not the Qualcomms which is mainly what HTC uses... Because according to one of their documentation, their concepts and actual library have been running on TI processors...
drownage said:
(...) and put pressure on phone companies to make CAPACITIVE touch phones... Resistive ones will NEVER be as smooth... Or maybe they should just invest in "nano" IR technology for touch screens so its truly multitouch...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong. Take a look at this for example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv3X5y-ajtc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsfxdxmAUoo
these are resistive touch panels , so they have all advantages of this type: durability, accuracy (if extra accuracy is needed, you can use a stylus), plus they have advantages of capacitive panels: responsiveness and sensitivity (in the video you can see the touchscreen operated by a brush and a piece of paper) and of course multitouch.
Let's just hope we see touchscreens like that in our pda's soon.
Oh nice didnt know about that... the second video u linked to, the "How It Works" part, is it showing 4 filaments of different widths? Because otherwise, I cannot see how a single resistive filament can provide multiple touches... I doubt that kind of responsiveness wud be possible on the Kaiser, touching the filament, bends it all the way... I still dont get how that works... I guess we'll find out soon... If you have any further information on that tech, please let me know... Thanks
mr_deimos said:
Wrong. Take a look at this for example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv3X5y-ajtc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsfxdxmAUoo
these are resistive touch panels , so they have all advantages of this type: durability, accuracy (if extra accuracy is needed, you can use a stylus), plus they have advantages of capacitive panels: responsiveness and sensitivity (in the video you can see the touchscreen operated by a brush and a piece of paper) and of course multitouch.
Let's just hope we see touchscreens like that in our pda's soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
EDIT:
Hmm.. heres how it works:
http://www.stantum.com/spip.php?article52
Wouldnt the touchscreen feel bumpy due to the matrix? Hmm supposedly coming out Q4 2009... I doubt any current phones have that technology...

Ouya - could it make the TF700 a portable gaming beast?

Considering that Ouya will be built with the same CPU/GPU/RAM specs as the Infinity, I feel like it's safe to assume that if it does even moderately well, we'll be getting to see a lot of games that truly push our hardware. We've seen many Tegra 3 games come out so far - some incredible, some disappointing, but overall not a bad start for high quality mobile gaming.
If the Ouya does really well, the TF700 gamers may wind up with an insane catalog of games that most people will only be playing at home with any decent quality. It could make the TF700 a very good competitor for portable gaming. I'm kind of excited to see what happens, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up before we start seeing the actual production of the Ouya and developer support that follows.
What is everyone's thoughts on the matter? Any specific games announced so far that your excited for?
Also, it's been said that the talked about Oculus Rift will have Android support later on, though I have no clue if much would come of that.
Nvida's tegra push did narrow my field of tablet options some. I would love to see higher end games and a more PC-like set of tools (more control options, more performance scaling, more flexibility in general), and nvidia seems to have their eye on something similar. No one Android maker has the clout or sales to make android a more serious gaming platform right now, but nvidia might. They've got a certain credibility with players and producers that stands out and raises a particular set of expectations that even the biggest maker, Samsung, can't bring to the table.
While Ouya can bring more living room games to the fold, perhaps more controller utilization, the Nexus 7 might be equally influential at broadening support through sheer numbers. Storage is the main handicap, but it still has lots of potential.
That said, I don't expect much from even a best case scenario. Game investment is a lot more complicated than many players seem to realize. My favorite small dev is trying to fund an expansion of the best Tower Defense ever through kickstarter and its not uncommon for someone to accuse them of unconscionable greed for not being able to completely self-fund from the proceeds of their first game -- this while storied studios backed by major pubs are closing their doors. It's a struggle for survival out there. Small devs doing high end original content are taking huge risks.
Best case here is more big studios/publishers start testing the waters at tegra 3 and actually produce a serious and well stocked platform at tegra 4 or 5. Infinity should have more gaming options than her predecessors, but I doubt she'll be a gaming beast.
Not likely. Ouya, at this point, is more about the idea of trying to bring the independent developers to the living room with less cost through the Android platform. As eluded to, it costs a lot of money to make AAA games on the consoles or PC. I've chosen to back them, but I'm skeptical. I think Ouya may be redundant, as you're indirectly eluding, since all you need is the microHDMI cable and blue tooth controller. It's just a matter of the game developers adding the code for the controllers.
One thing is certain, there is market for games on the mobile platform--Android and iOS--beyond these "casual" games such as Angry Birds, Plants vs Zombies, Bejweled, Words with Friends, Draw Something, and so forth. There's some indication people may want a more traditional console/PC game with some decent success of games like Shadowgun and Dead Trigger, and so forth; sorry I wasn't able to list a more diverse list, but I don't play many mobile games. Add that up, with more powerful mobile devices, you'll see the games improve. Just don't quite expect a game to look like PS3/360 game, nor give you that over ten hours game experience with cut scenes and so forth. Well, not while people are complaining about games being over a dollar, and piracy being very easy to do, like the old days on the PC.
On a side note, you may see something you're thinking with technology that OnLive is developing. That has the potentional to bring the similar game experience across multiple game platforms. I use it on the PC and my HTC Evo 4G. I tried it out on a buddy's Nexus 7.
On a side note, I did see EA did an update for Dead Space for the Nexus 7, so some developers are thinking about tablets.
I noticed that the UDK supports Android (it specifically mentions honeycomb though) which might indicate at least an industry consideration for such focus. As far as indies go, frameworks like this being offered to small-time devs will provide the potential for an Android "real gaming console". The estimated price of specifically the Ouya would make for other poorer countries to acquire and put as a target platform for development, in which case Android focus could increase world-wide (PS3 for R$1100 or Ouya for R$400?). I'm still skeptical, but the distribution of the system globally will really tell who's going to make it into a priority. If the saturation gets high enough, everyone will be jumping on that wagon.

why are emulators on android still quite basic ?

hi all,
ive dabbled with quite a few emulators on the android platform, and most are a bit dissapointing, and the paid for ones are the worse of all, totally lacking in features and compatibility.
when i got my jxd s7300 i thought it would rekindle my interest in emulation, with its 7 inch screen and half decent d-pad, but ive now dug out my old psp cos the emulators on that are better than the very basic emulators on android.
whether its snes/amiga/psx/mame, the psp emulators are the complete package, but the android emulators pale in comparison.
for example, every single emulator on the psp has autofire/turbofire options in the input options, cos even back in the psp days emulator authors had the common sense to realise that the cheap tacky psp buttons were not designed to be repeatedly mashed playing some manic old school shootemup.
today, on touchscreen tablets and tablets and phones etc with very cheap and small weedy physical controls, the need to not constantly mash the buttons is even more important, and not to mention making the whole screen shake in ones hands as one stabs the buttons like a demented gibbon playing some old school manic shootemup, which were designed in the day for arcade quality joysticks and buttons which were much easier and more comfortable to repeatedly hammer.
on android, mame4droid reloaded, snes emus, final burn alpha, epsxe, and nearly all versions of various emulators for just about every old school system, AND NOT ONE OF EM has the common sense option of an autofire option in the input options, what the hell is going on ?, are todays emulator authors convinced that modern tablets and phones have arcade quality microswitched buttons on them ?
the only half decent emu with an autofire option is mame4droid, but thats old and runs only a few pre 80s stuff properly. mame4droid reloaded is much better, but the autofire option was removed !! (by mame devs i suppose), but what excuse has the author of final burn alpha, the authors of the various snes emus, amiga emus, psx emus, etc etc,
all pretty good emulators, but lacking in features and compatibility, and in the case of epsxe, not even able to sync the sound correctly.
all these emulators rendered virtually unplayable cos of lack of even the simplest autofire option, and believe you me, there are not many old school games that dont require constant stabbing of the fire buttons.
also, as an aside, ive posted for months on a few forums asking if anyone knew of an android app that could assign an autofire rate to a single button, to be effective whilst using various emulators, and to date, NOT A SINGLE REPLY to any of the posts, so it seems this avenue is not an option, so that makes it all the more important for emulator authors to implement this simple feature.
cheers
mattemat said:
hi all,
ive dabbled with quite a few emulators on the android platform, and most are a bit dissapointing, and the paid for ones are the worse of all, totally lacking in features and compatibility.
when i got my jxd s7300 i thought it would rekindle my interest in emulation, with its 7 inch screen and half decent d-pad, but ive now dug out my old psp cos the emulators on that are better than the very basic emulators on android.
whether its snes/amiga/psx/mame, the psp emulators are the complete package, but the android emulators pale in comparison.
for example, every single emulator on the psp has autofire/turbofire options in the input options, cos even back in the psp days emulator authors had the common sense to realise that the cheap tacky psp buttons were not designed to be repeatedly mashed playing some manic old school shootemup.
today, on touchscreen tablets and tablets and phones etc with very cheap and small weedy physical controls, the need to not constantly mash the buttons is even more important, and not to mention making the whole screen shake in ones hands as one stabs the buttons like a demented gibbon playing some old school manic shootemup, which were designed in the day for arcade quality joysticks and buttons which were much easier and more comfortable to repeatedly hammer.
on android, mame4droid reloaded, snes emus, final burn alpha, epsxe, and nearly all versions of various emulators for just about every old school system, AND NOT ONE OF EM has the common sense option of an autofire option in the input options, what the hell is going on ?, are todays emulator authors convinced that modern tablets and phones have arcade quality microswitched buttons on them ?
the only half decent emu with an autofire option is mame4droid, but thats old and runs only a few pre 80s stuff properly. mame4droid reloaded is much better, but the autofire option was removed !! (by mame devs i suppose), but what excuse has the author of final burn alpha, the authors of the various snes emus, amiga emus, psx emus, etc etc,
all pretty good emulators, but lacking in features and compatibility, and in the case of epsxe, not even able to sync the sound correctly.
all these emulators rendered virtually unplayable cos of lack of even the simplest autofire option, and believe you me, there are not many old school games that dont require constant stabbing of the fire buttons.
also, as an aside, ive posted for months on a few forums asking if anyone knew of an android app that could assign an autofire rate to a single button, to be effective whilst using various emulators, and to date, NOT A SINGLE REPLY to any of the posts, so it seems this avenue is not an option, so that makes it all the more important for emulator authors to implement this simple feature.
cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bear in mind though that getting emulation to work- especially on Android, considering its mostly for phones- is a feat in itself. On many emulators, graphics rendering in itself is still a problem. Developers would rather make sure that a game can actually run decently rather than focus on things like autofire which (considering the beta stages of most emulators) would only slow progress down.
Android wan't designed to be a gaming system. The fact that we even have DS and PSP emulators- yes, barely capable, but still- is quite a big thing.
You seriously can't expect miracles when it comes to emulation. The developers work hard as is, trying to make things work. Autofire isn't a "common sense" feature, its an extra. "Common sense" features would include graphical rendering engines and other options such as frameskipping and display options that could help smoothen game performance. Whereas PSPs are meant to render games and the like properly even through emulation, Android wasn't. Again, bearing in mind that this is an OS that was meant to run on a phone or tablet.
End of the day though, entirely at the dev's discretion, but the dev would rather have a playable game than features which make it easier.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk HD
Soryuu said:
Bear in mind though that getting emulation to work- especially on Android, considering its mostly for phones- is a feat in itself. On many emulators, graphics rendering in itself is still a problem. Developers would rather make sure that a game can actually run decently rather than focus on things like autofire which (considering the beta stages of most emulators) would only slow progress down.
Android wan't designed to be a gaming system. The fact that we even have DS and PSP emulators- yes, barely capable, but still- is quite a big thing.
You seriously can't expect miracles when it comes to emulation. The developers work hard as is, trying to make things work. Autofire isn't a "common sense" feature, its an extra. "Common sense" features would include graphical rendering engines and other options such as frameskipping and display options that could help smoothen game performance. Whereas PSPs are meant to render games and the like properly even through emulation, Android wasn't. Again, bearing in mind that this is an OS that was meant to run on a phone or tablet.
End of the day though, entirely at the dev's discretion, but the dev would rather have a playable game than features which make it easier.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you make some valid points, and i understand android is not the ideal platform for emulation, BUT, the fact that android does have some pretty good emulators, afba (android final burn alpha), mame4droid reloaded, being two of the best, shows what can be achieved,
but its a crying shame that running some classic old school shooters in these emulators is such an awkward and uncomfortable experience due to stabbing away on the cheap and nasty controls of modern tablets and phones, and not to mention the damage visited upon on said controls after a lengthy session of frantic button mashing, thousands of presses on a single button just to maintain a steady rate of ingame weapons fire or whatever.
im not asking for the moon on a stick, just simple autofire options, and those that dont need such a thing can easily choose not to use the autofire option if they choose not to, although why anyone would rather bang away on their expensive phone/tablet buttons thousands of times in a session of flying shark on mame, or whatever, rather than simply toggle autofire on, is beyond my comprehension, yes, the original arcade game did not have autofire (some purists say), but the original arcade game had a fantastic quality joystick and big red buttons !, perfect for mashing away on.
todays phones/tablets have nothing like the dream controls of the original arcade machines, and even if they did, im sure if you were to hold an arcade cabinet in the palm of your hands you would not wish to be stabbing away on the fire button due to shaking the damn thing whilst you did so !
Developers have lives and bills to pay. Honestly alot of the emulators are made as a hobby because there isnt any real money for the amount of work that goes into an emulator. Making an emulator is one of the most difficult things to program on earth , seriously. If there was more incentive we would get better emulators. Also remember the device that the developer is using the emulator might run better than on your device.
hmmmmm
mattemat said:
you make some valid points, and i understand android is not the ideal platform for emulation, BUT, the fact that android does have some pretty good emulators, afba (android final burn alpha), mame4droid reloaded, being two of the best, shows what can be achieved,
but its a crying shame that running some classic old school shooters in these emulators is such an awkward and uncomfortable experience due to stabbing away on the cheap and nasty controls of modern tablets and phones, and not to mention the damage visited upon on said controls after a lengthy session of frantic button mashing, thousands of presses on a single button just to maintain a steady rate of ingame weapons fire or whatever.
im not asking for the moon on a stick, just simple autofire options, and those that dont need such a thing can easily choose not to use the autofire option if they choose not to, although why anyone would rather bang away on their expensive phone/tablet buttons thousands of times in a session of flying shark on mame, or whatever, rather than simply toggle autofire on, is beyond my comprehension, yes, the original arcade game did not have autofire (some purists say), but the original arcade game had a fantastic quality joystick and big red buttons !, perfect for mashing away on.
todays phones/tablets have nothing like the dream controls of the original arcade machines, and even if they did, im sure if you were to hold an arcade cabinet in the palm of your hands you would not wish to be stabbing away on the fire button due to shaking the damn thing whilst you did so !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may be a little off here so bear with me.
Have you tried using an actual gamepad on the device? i'm sure you have seen gamepads with autofire buttons already on them.
I use Retroarch (in my opinion absolutely fantastic bit of software) and i know that a great many differing types of game pad can be used with it, the dev/s update them all the time. All you need is the app to connect the game pad and you are all good.
Take a look at the thread, i cant be sure but i think someone mentioned autofire in there somewhere:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2116468
It also gives a good guide to what you need to do to connect a gamepad.
Hope this helps,
Creamy
I find GBA.emu, MD.emu, Snes9x Ex+, N64oid/Mupen, nds4droid, FPSE and PPSSPP to be quite good actually
Granted I use a Sony Dual Shock 3 to control them
The object of emulation is to replicate the original experience
If the original hardware didn't have autofire why would an emulator have it
That wouldnt be true to the original game/hardware
i dont think connecting a pad of some sort to a 7 inch tablet is feasable ?, does such a thing even exist, and if it did i doubt a physical autofire switch would be on it.
ive never seen a decent clip on pad for 7 inch (or 10 inch tablets), i think one is maybe due on some kickstarter project, but thats pie in the sky right now.
also, could someone help me contact the author of afba (android final burn alpha), ive tried to pm him but my message will not go through.
afba is the best emu ive seen on android so far, but how i would love a simple autofire option in the input menu.
cheers
mattemat said:
i dont think connecting a pad of some sort to a 7 inch tablet is feasable ?, does such a thing even exist, and if it did i doubt a physical autofire switch would be on it.
ive never seen a decent clip on pad for 7 inch (or 10 inch tablets), i think one is maybe due on some kickstarter project, but thats pie in the sky right now.
also, could someone help me contact the author of afba (android final burn alpha), ive tried to pm him but my message will not go through.
afba is the best emu ive seen on android so far, but how i would love a simple autofire option in the input menu.
cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course its feasable, i wouldnt have suggested it otherwise. At least try the suggestion and read the thread..........why so negative?
I run Retroarch (containing most of the popular emu's) on my Samsung galaxy Beam (the one with the 50" Projector onboard) and i use the six axis controller app to connect a ps3 pad to the phone. POW!! instant gaming on a huge screen.
Furthermore, I was in the local Tesco yesterday and saw a ps3 type wireless pad, it has autofire switches all over it and was little more than £15........Bargain.
So i think i have covered all of your needs there, you just have to see if it works for you.
As i mentioned before, you may get a little further if you read the thread i linked.
Best of luck,
Creamy
Yeah, full-featured emulator would be good (like SNES)
creamy said:
Of course its feasable, i wouldnt have suggested it otherwise. At least try the suggestion and read the thread..........why so negative?
I run Retroarch (containing most of the popular emu's) on my Samsung galaxy Beam (the one with the 50" Projector onboard) and i use the six axis controller app to connect a ps3 pad to the phone. POW!! instant gaming on a huge screen.
Furthermore, I was in the local Tesco yesterday and saw a ps3 type wireless pad, it has autofire switches all over it and was little more than £15........Bargain.
So i think i have covered all of your needs there, you just have to see if it works for you.
As i mentioned before, you may get a little further if you read the thread i linked.
Best of luck,
Creamy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ive had a look at that thread, but what i would be after is a way to physically attach ps3 pad to the tablet.
ive had a look at the 'gameclip', but it only supports certain phones, and one of the few 7 inch tablets it supports is the nexus 7, but that device is getting slagged off big time in current reviews (hardware problems after a years use)
and anyway, for comfort a tablet needs dpad on left and face buttons on right (like the jxd gamepad), and sticking a ps3 pad under a tablet is not ergonomically comfortable for long periods (the tablet overhangs the pad and its weight is not evenly distributed for comfort in the hands)
anyway, i should not need hotch potch solutions like that, the jxd has decent controls built in, but i can not enjoy them cos every single amiga/arcade/psx/cps/neo geo emu on android insists on making the player furiously stab away like a loon cos of lack of auto/turbo fire options.
I just use my psp 1000 for emulators since I hate playing oldschool games with a touch screen it just takes the fun out of oldschool games but with the psp you have actual buttons which makes it more fun to play Sega Gen games like street fighter or Atari 2600 games but I know some people Actually like touch screen for emulators I was just pointing that out
Sent from my psp 1000 and kindle fire hd
mattemat said:
ive had a look at that thread, but what i would be after is a way to physically attach ps3 pad to the tablet.
ive had a look at the 'gameclip', but it only supports certain phones, and one of the few 7 inch tablets it supports is the nexus 7, but that device is getting slagged off big time in current reviews (hardware problems after a years use)
and anyway, for comfort a tablet needs dpad on left and face buttons on right (like the jxd gamepad), and sticking a ps3 pad under a tablet is not ergonomically comfortable for long periods (the tablet overhangs the pad and its weight is not evenly distributed for comfort in the hands)
anyway, i should not need hotch potch solutions like that, the jxd has decent controls built in, but i can not enjoy them cos every single amiga/arcade/psx/cps/neo geo emu on android insists on making the player furiously stab away like a loon cos of lack of auto/turbo fire options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like you are at the mercy of the developers then pal, i doubt you are the only one who would like this feature so you could just ask the teams that make the Emu's.
I would reitterate however, as previously mentioned.....its is exactly that....a feature, and one that appears to hold low priority (otherwise it would already be there) It is also worth noting that autofire was always considered 'cheating' when these consoles were initially around, so this may be another reason that the feature isnt there.....i do however get your point about the devices getting bashed during emulation.
I also dont understand why you have to physically hold the tab instead of using it as a screen, but hey your preference is your own.
One final tip, your are coming across as frustrated and a touch miffed. I can understand that you are looking for help and that you have posted in a fair few places without response, however if someone who can help reads one of your posts (and it does read as if you consider them incompetent for not including this feature) They may be a little less willing to help you or funish you with the feature you require.
Again Best of Luck,
Creamy
creamy said:
Looks like you are at the mercy of the developers then pal, i doubt you are the only one who would like this feature so you could just ask the teams that make the Emu's.
I would reitterate however, as previously mentioned.....its is exactly that....a feature, and one that appears to hold low priority (otherwise it would already be there) It is also worth noting that autofire was always considered 'cheating' when these consoles were initially around, so this may be another reason that the feature isnt there.....i do however get your point about the devices getting bashed during emulation.
I also dont understand why you have to physically hold the tab instead of using it as a screen, but hey your preference is your own.
One final tip, your are coming across as frustrated and a touch miffed. I can understand that you are looking for help and that you have posted in a fair few places without response, however if someone who can help reads one of your posts (and it does read as if you consider them incompetent for not including this feature) They may be a little less willing to help you or funish you with the feature you require.
Again Best of Luck,
Creamy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
point taken !
but i really do not like stabbing away on the fire button on handheld devices, its noisy, bad for the hardware, uncomfortable, not ergonomic, and ultimately pointless, and the small screens shake whilst doing so.

Screen Being Unresponsive

Guys I need help. The touchscreen is great on non-simultaneous touched such as texting/typing but it goes from good to awful when you try apps and games that require multitouch. For example, the game Hardest Game Ever 2 when there are stages that you will need many fingers to use, it simply doesnt recognize most of the touches you make. On music/instrument apps such as Real Drums you cant do fast tempo since the screen cannot take that much responsiveness.
Also, I have been recently lagging a lot in many cases such as from watching videos without clearing the RAM. Is there any workaround on my cases? THanks in advance XDA
First of all which ROM or Firmware you are on right now?

Tesco Hudl 2 tablet.

Ok, so i'm tempted to buy one of these as I have a bunch of vouchers which means i can buy it for £25 instead of £129.
I'm a little concerned about the lack of love of the original Hudl device in terms of custom roms and general hacking , and i kinda understand it since its a UK device. so i'm unsure to go for it because of this. Its an Intel Atom cpu so i would love it if it was able to be installed with windows 8.1/10 eventually.
Anyone else seen the device and have any thoughts on it?
http://www.tesco.com/direct/hudl2-8-wi-fi-tablet/454-7907.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=397-7926
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/tablets/391081/hands-on-tesco-hudl2-review
Looks like I've found the right place for my review
I tried posting this in a comment box on Engadget. Suffice to say, it did not fit! I thought there might be a modding forum for the hudl1 over here on xda but to my surprise there is not :-O slightly concerning. I don't understand why it being a British device would be an issue, we make great stuff!
Anyway here goes..
Had a good shot on the hudl2 today. Going in teaco today was like the opening scenes of the Lego movie. Hudl propaganda everywhere. Point of sale cardboards you expect. But I have to admit impressed with the kiosk they've set up. The branding is simple, and hey had all colours of hudl on display, it definitely lures you in. On top of tat, giving the big brother Lego-movir feel, all of the television displays are showing a hudl2 promo vids on loop. 'Were really pleased to announce...' Etc..
The demo units run in obviously a demo mode. Pristine, I think I might have been their first prodder. All the tabs were heleved in landscape view and the first Hong you notice therefore is how wide they look. If you've seen the nexus7, these seem like pretty much the same ratio. The demo mode has a display encouraging you to 'try it', which if you tap, takes you to the android home screen. Naturally it is maiden with blinkbox icons. The home screen to the left features tescos feed. Things like shopping offers, how to get started on blibkbox etc. You can hide then (they appear as cards), but they come back soon enough. The home screen one to the right of the main, is more blink box a centric with more direct links to movies and music etc.
You can choose to ditch blinkbox icons if you wish but long and short, you're not getting rid of these left and right home screens anytime soon. I had a good look through the options and settings, and nowhere did I see the option to remove ho.eacreens.
Neither was I able to enable developer option s, something to note.
Going into settings, apps, I attempted to close/stop any references to Tesco processes running to see if it was possible to 'de-teaco' the homeacreens. And sure, I was able to stop them. But returning to the home screen starts them again and back they appear, as if they never went away.
The homeacreen to.the left incurs the highest lag in all my experience using the tablet. As you scroll left, the background blurs, which is a nice aesthetic touch but I would hedge my bets that is what's causing the lag. As another person has reported, touching the app drawer brings up the app icons very promptly, with only a slight *very very slight* * delay. To the otaku, this will annoy them possibly, but to.most casual users who don't race around phones/tabs as they likely so on desktop PC's, this won't be a problem at all.
Similarly, launching apps was prompt, about th same as the initial 'pressing on app drawer' button.
It feels very much like a smartphone, with a. Bigger screen, which is what most ppl expect.
The screen. The screen is absolutely stand-out feature on this tab. The colours, to my taster are desaturated enough to look natural, I would estimate skin tones in videos would look very nice on this. Photos look absolutely lovely, and using the tab to tweak them with Google Photos was easy, fun and satisfying.
Play store..
Internet wasslow connection in this particular tescos but at least they're connected! A welcome change to a lot of stores/demos. Indeed, these tabs were 'box-fresh' I downloaded Flipboard, which flipped through lagfree, although I can't say 100% for sure about hr speed because the connection was so slow that images weren't displaying yet.
I downloaded flickr, a nice appfor viewing photos on nice screens and it looked wonderful with next to no.lag (aside the net connection ).
Feel in the hand. These things are naturally powered up and connected via mai s as well as a central stem from beneath the desk holding them up. So I wasn't able to feel how theysit in the hand vertically. But I was able to.hold it horizontally and that was indeed very comfy, the rubbery soft touch back is very nice and trippy too.
No accessories were available yet.
I can't comment on the sound, but the screen is just lovely. Again, to echo others, the viewing angles are not fantastic, but its respectably bright and crisp. No such 'cyan oven mode style' colour options in the settings though, if the look isn't to your preference.
This is my first time using an 8inch tablet, its a nice experience. However this like email in landscape could definitely so with a bit of a makeover (everything appears very large), like email for kids . (Gmail I'm talking about).
Goodgle Newsstand, this had had a recent update which makes it quite graphically intense, using the cards style material UI of upcoming Google Android L. Scrolling through the items incurred a bit of lag, I would put in on par with my galaxy S3 (running CyanogenMod 11l. As a news reading experience, this app has a lot of potential, but Aimo It would only be optimal under android L.
Browsing through the play store for music, movies and books requires a fair amount of close-up viewing it on a galaxy s3, not so here. The items on display are pleasant and text metainfo, like price, genre, year etc. Are nicely legible.
Browsing speed..
Now this is the only area where I was not particularly amazed with the hudl 2. I fired up theverge as its quite intense. The chrome.browser held most of the images in place, however a quick scroll from very top to very bottom of the site had images blinking out of view,, then re-appearing. Not a ram issue I don't think. I think (only suspect) this might be a limit of the atom CPU.
I did nothing more strenuous to he tablet, and apart from that, I would say it is very very serviceable. Especially for £129.
Were it not for this potential.nexus9 around the corner with rumoured android L, I would buy this immediately.
would it be possible to put the GEL launcher on this? and thanks for the in depth review^^^^^^^
nice hands-on. sort out the strange spelllings and wording and you could put that on a proper website.
i'll be getting mine tonight (cost me £25 on top of my clubcard vouchers which have been sitting doing nothing for years) so will give some feedback for what its worth. i'm totally wanting to run windows on it though. I can't get my head around why anyone would chose a (presumably more expensive) Intel x64 chipset over an ARM given that Android is optimised for ARM.
SkEvol said:
I tried posting this in a comment box on Engadget. Suffice to say, it did not fit! I thought there might be a modding forum for the hudl1 over here on xda but to my surprise there is not :-O slightly concerning. I don't understand why it being a British device would be an issue, we make great stuff!
Anyway here goes..
Had a good shot on the hudl2 today. Going in teaco today was like the opening scenes of the Lego movie. Hudl propaganda everywhere. Point of sale cardboards you expect. But I have to admit impressed with the kiosk they've set up. The branding is simple, and hey had all colours of hudl on display, it definitely lures you in. On top of tat, giving the big brother Lego-movir feel, all of the television displays are showing a hudl2 promo vids on loop. 'Were really pleased to announce...' Etc..
The demo units run in obviously a demo mode. Pristine, I think I might have been their first prodder. All the tabs were heleved in landscape view and the first Hong you notice therefore is how wide they look. If you've seen the nexus7, these seem like pretty much the same ratio. The demo mode has a display encouraging you to 'try it', which if you tap, takes you to the android home screen. Naturally it is maiden with blinkbox icons. The home screen to the left features tescos feed. Things like shopping offers, how to get started on blibkbox etc. You can hide then (they appear as cards), but they come back soon enough. The home screen one to the right of the main, is more blink box a centric with more direct links to movies and music etc.
You can choose to ditch blinkbox icons if you wish but long and short, you're not getting rid of these left and right home screens anytime soon. I had a good look through the options and settings, and nowhere did I see the option to remove ho.eacreens.
Neither was I able to enable developer option s, something to note.
Going into settings, apps, I attempted to close/stop any references to Tesco processes running to see if it was possible to 'de-teaco' the homeacreens. And sure, I was able to stop them. But returning to the home screen starts them again and back they appear, as if they never went away.
The homeacreen to.the left incurs the highest lag in all my experience using the tablet. As you scroll left, the background blurs, which is a nice aesthetic touch but I would hedge my bets that is what's causing the lag. As another person has reported, touching the app drawer brings up the app icons very promptly, with only a slight *very very slight* * delay. To the otaku, this will annoy them possibly, but to.most casual users who don't race around phones/tabs as they likely so on desktop PC's, this won't be a problem at all.
Similarly, launching apps was prompt, about th same as the initial 'pressing on app drawer' button.
It feels very much like a smartphone, with a. Bigger screen, which is what most ppl expect.
The screen. The screen is absolutely stand-out feature on this tab. The colours, to my taster are desaturated enough to look natural, I would estimate skin tones in videos would look very nice on this. Photos look absolutely lovely, and using the tab to tweak them with Google Photos was easy, fun and satisfying.
Play store..
Internet wasslow connection in this particular tescos but at least they're connected! A welcome change to a lot of stores/demos. Indeed, these tabs were 'box-fresh' I downloaded Flipboard, which flipped through lagfree, although I can't say 100% for sure about hr speed because the connection was so slow that images weren't displaying yet.
I downloaded flickr, a nice appfor viewing photos on nice screens and it looked wonderful with next to no.lag (aside the net connection ).
Feel in the hand. These things are naturally powered up and connected via mai s as well as a central stem from beneath the desk holding them up. So I wasn't able to feel how theysit in the hand vertically. But I was able to.hold it horizontally and that was indeed very comfy, the rubbery soft touch back is very nice and trippy too.
No accessories were available yet.
I can't comment on the sound, but the screen is just lovely. Again, to echo others, the viewing angles are not fantastic, but its respectably bright and crisp. No such 'cyan oven mode style' colour options in the settings though, if the look isn't to your preference.
This is my first time using an 8inch tablet, its a nice experience. However this like email in landscape could definitely so with a bit of a makeover (everything appears very large), like email for kids . (Gmail I'm talking about).
Goodgle Newsstand, this had had a recent update which makes it quite graphically intense, using the cards style material UI of upcoming Google Android L. Scrolling through the items incurred a bit of lag, I would put in on par with my galaxy S3 (running CyanogenMod 11l. As a news reading experience, this app has a lot of potential, but Aimo It would only be optimal under android L.
Browsing through the play store for music, movies and books requires a fair amount of close-up viewing it on a galaxy s3, not so here. The items on display are pleasant and text metainfo, like price, genre, year etc. Are nicely legible.
Browsing speed..
Now this is the only area where I was not particularly amazed with the hudl 2. I fired up theverge as its quite intense. The chrome.browser held most of the images in place, however a quick scroll from very top to very bottom of the site had images blinking out of view,, then re-appearing. Not a ram issue I don't think. I think (only suspect) this might be a limit of the atom CPU.
I did nothing more strenuous to he tablet, and apart from that, I would say it is very very serviceable. Especially for £129.
Were it not for this potential.nexus9 around the corner with rumoured android L, I would buy this immediately.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good review - and the web pages thing does seem to be an issue. I thought I would add a couple of points based on 24 hours of ownership of this device....
The first thing I noticed was how laggy the Tesco launcher was - not helped by the boat load of Tesco crapola on left screen. The first thing I did was put Nova on there and it was like night and day - zero lag. I disabled most of the Tesco apps and hid them in the launcher as well which basically left me with, essentially, a stock Android tablet. It also left no visible sign of Tesco on the tablet because Nova can get rid of the search bar (Tesco had moved their Tesco button up here instead of having it on the Navigation bar on Hudl1) The only gripe about performance would be that there is some lag with some live wallpapers.
I stuck Asphalt 8 and Modern Combat 5 on there and there no problems. Both games play really, really well. I also tested the touch responsiveness - an issue on Hudl 1 - by playing CounterSpy and Alone and it seems to be a lot better on Hudl 2. I have not really had a chance to test the speakers yet as I have mainly used it with headphones. I've also not had any issues with app incompatibility caused by the Intel processor yet. Internet speed seems great so far- even large games downloaded quickly both on home and work WiFi.
My biggest gripe is the 9gb of free space - 11 out of 16gb free should be the minimum. First thing I will do when I root it will be to get rid of some of bloat with Titanium.
Overall though - very impressed. As already mentioned, the screen is just fantastic. Huge improvement on the first one and a really, really decent device. For the money its a no-brainer.
Thanks for continuing the discussion! What you've said all sounds very positive!
Have you managed to root it? I note that there sadly didn't seem to be much support for custom rom'ing the hudl1. But those changes you made with the launcher sound like they took care of any lag, this is great!
One thing you did mention.. I thought i would ask you, for clarity.. When you said..
gripweed said:
Good review - and the web pages thing does seem to be an issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
--were you referring to your own experience with loading pages? Or were you just echoing the concern i had expressed in my review?
Also, to hear that games work well is also really great!
Took the plunge today used my staff discount didn't use any club card put the google launcher disabled everything other than child and my Tesco which I couldn't do. Tablet is really fast display and size and great feels better the nexus 7
SkEvol said:
Thanks for continuing the discussion! What you've said all sounds very positive!
Have you managed to root it? I note that there sadly didn't seem to be much support for custom rom'ing the hudl1. But those changes you made with the launcher sound like they took care of any lag, this is great!
One thing you did mention.. I thought i would ask you, for clarity.. When you said..
--were you referring to your own experience with loading pages? Or were you just echoing the concern i had expressed in my review?
Also, to hear that games work well is also really great!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was more echoing your concerns tbh - noticed it crop up in at least a couple of "hands on" reviews and was wondering if it was an issue. I haven't especially noticed but I will try a few more content heavy web page and see what happens. I should apologise for the lack of clarity on my original reply as I haven't rooted it yet- I rooted the last one and ran exposed and gravity box which did compensate slightly for the lack of custom roms. There was a bit of interest in Hudl modding on Modaco last time, which was where I found the rooting info.
I think Rooting may take a while as this is an Intel Atom Bay trail Z3735D cpu. The Onda V975i has the same CPU and has been rooted so it may be possible to adapt it to work although it is running an older version of android which may raise other problems. Also I would not try any rooting method until a recovery ROM and method are available.
My Hudl 2 on order.
---------- Post added at 11:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:37 AM ----------
Further From my previous post it appears that these Bay Trial tabs can have a Bios so It will be interesting to see how this tab matures. Windows Anyone!
vermillions said:
Further From my previous post it appears that these Bay Trial tabs can have a Bios so It will be interesting to see how this tab matures. Windows Anyone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty cool to think that would be possible.
Windows has a 1000 uses, what would you choose to do? (just curious)
Do you think that Kings might have solution to rooting?
SkEvol said:
Pretty cool to think that would be possible.
Windows has a 1000 uses, what would you choose to do? (just curious)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am the worst person with devices, I like to get them to do more than they were originally intended to do and to tinker and learn as much as poss, then I just end up never using them. But if a Dev overcomes all the obstacles in Boot and Bios and is able to roll all the drivers into a windows rom, I couldn't help myself I would have to test it.
Hudl2 Thread
How do we lobby the XDA Devs to open a section for the Hudl2?
Do we need to raise money to buy one to send it to a dev?
I'd quite like a recovery loader (at the bare minimum) to be able to back up the Hudl2, before asking for some kind dev to port a new Rom to it.
What can we do to make any of the above options happen?
giac0m0 said:
How do we lobby the XDA Devs to open a section for the Hudl2?
Do we need to raise money to buy one to send it to a dev?
I'd quite like a recovery loader (at the bare minimum) to be able to back up the Hudl2, before asking for some kind dev to port a new Rom to it.
What can we do to make any of the above options happen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know the answer to any of your questions but I'd be willing to contribute £5 to the cost of finding out how to root it, in whatever form that takes.
Just out of interest has anyone tried Root Genius? it is made by the same people that made Shuame. If not working I suspect root will probably come from installing IntelAndroidDrvSetup and then a flash from Fastboot if we can get into Fastboot. But it will need someone with the correct knowledge to make the flashable update with the right parameters. All only a guess though.
Hi. Does anyone have an idea of how someone who's not in England can purchase one?
I'm very interest, seems great value for the money.
Thanks.
vermillions said:
Just out of interest has anyone tried Root Genius? it is made by the same people that made Shuame. If not working I suspect root will probably come from installing IntelAndroidDrvSetup and then a flash from Fastboot if we can get into Fastboot. But it will need someone with the correct knowledge to make the flashable update with the right parameters. All only a guess though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone over in MoDaCo had a similar thought and suggested this may work:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2681783
giac0m0 said:
Someone over in MoDaCo had a similar thought and suggested this may work:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2681783
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it might, my Hudl 2 is not yet delivered so I am unable to test at present. But I think it is worth a shot.
(kicking myself for ordering with delivery and not picking up from store.)
vermillions said:
If not working I suspect root will probably come from installing IntelAndroidDrvSetup and then a flash from Fastboot if we can get into Fastboot. But it will need someone with the correct knowledge to make the flashable update with the right parameters.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm impressed! I have no idea now you had the thought process of thinking of doing that! I take it you must have quite a lot of experience with routing. I only ropted my s3 because i needed to. Sometimes i wish i had the insight to be able to suggest something like that. I usually work off of what faq or how-to suggests. I'm quite interested in why this device would require a different method because of it's cpu. Interesting to me.
Has anyone had success playing encoded videos e.g. x264 codec and similar? I used to get decent results using MXplayer or VLC beta on my previous tablet (a cheap Chinese version that should be worse than the Hudl2), but now I suspect that poor x86 support from those players is letting it down. I've downloaded the x86 codec for MX and played with the various performance options, but results range from good to appalling depending on the video, with stuttering or full crashes. I've also tried some other players that claimed x86 support, but no dice.
Any advice gratefully received, as I'm very happy with my Hudl2 apart from this.
Sent from my Hudl 2 using XDA Free mobile app

Categories

Resources