I mentioned it briefly in another post and searched the forum - but found nothing.
I am talking about the Sweep Panorama mode of the Xperia-S camera. Not the '3D' versions, the 'normal' (2D) sweep panorama - the last icon in the first ('Shooting mode') menu. I tend to experience problems with it and am not sure if everyone has observed the same.
In Sweep Panorama mode, whatever direction of sweeping I choose, I tend to get error messages that either:
- I am sweeping too fast, or
- I am sweeping too slow, or
- just 'Picture could not be taken' with no explanation why.
I need to mention that I have plenty of sweeping experience on my previous Xperia X10 and on a Sony Nex camera - so I am sweeping really smoothly and at medium speed. Are the phone position sensors and accelerometers too sensitive? (And the camera software inadequately set to interpret them?).
This is happening in roughly 3 out of 4 attempts (or even 4 out of 5) making the function hardly usable and very annoying.
Ironically, while the X10 had no such function, I was using a 'beta' version (called Panorama Beta) as a standalone app, offered by Sony Ericsson on the Android Market (now Play Shop). Despite being a beta, that app worked flawlessly and never gave me such problems. I have many excellent panoramas from that, and some have even won photographic awards. I particularly like the 'vertorama' mode, i.e. vertical sweeping. With the camera in 'landscape' mode, this captures a square-ish rectangle - with a wider field of view and more scene detail, at highest possible resolution. To capture a square (or 4:3 'portrait') vertorama, you need to stop sweeping early - and the Beta app had a 'Stop' button.
The new version integrated within the Xperia camera has no 'Stop' and expects you to make very long sweeps. I tried to stop by pressing the on-screen or physical shutter button, but that produces the above errors - or a very long and narrow rectangle, half of it greyed and the other half a blurry, low resolution panorama.
Disappointed with the function, I wanted to use the standalone Panorama Beta app, but it doesn't appear in the Market. Is it withdrawn by Sony? (As no longer beta and included with newer firmware)? Or is it only not appearing for the Xperia-S - presuming you already have it?
I tried taking a backed-up .APK from the X10 and 'restoring' (installing) it on the X-S, but it does not install. The install process starts normally, but when the blue 'thermometer' finishes, the message is: 'The app did not install' - with no further explanation. I imagine it discovers the newer version already installed and avoids a conflict with it?
All other 'panorama' apps on the market are much worse, from primitive to utter rubbish. They are either not 'sweep' and ask you to take multiple separate shots, asking you to manually align them to on-screen guide marks, before running a 'stitch' operation (resulting in very poor blends with obvious fault lines). Or they shoot relatively smoothly, but the end image is very lo-res, small in size and out of focus. Among all of them the Photaf app was closest to 'working' but it's only horizontal and stitches are a hit-and-miss (most of the time a miss - too obvious).
Can others, please, share experiences with the Sweep Panorama mode in the Xperia-S camera? Does it work for you or have you got similar problems? Has anyone found solutions?
Any suggestions how to make the Beta standalone app install and work? (The new one isn't standalone, so I am not sure I'll be able to uninstall it, even when I root the phone).
Thanks for any info!
The new Sweep Panorama sucks big time indeed. There's a modified APK of the beta floating around, I've been using it on my Arc S/Neo for ages, works just fine!
Don't have my S yet, so can't try it, but you can give it a go:
http://www.box.com/s/182e205dc19cbba235f7
Ambroos said:
The new Sweep Panorama sucks big time indeed. There's a modified APK of the beta floating around, I've been using it on my Arc S/Neo for ages, works just fine!
Don't have my S yet, so can't try it, but you can give it a go:
http://www.box.com/s/182e205dc19cbba235f7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot - this is the same Panorama 'Beta' I loved on my X10, works well on the X-S. I'll now use it as main pano tool and hope Sony will fix their in-camera version with one of the firmware updates.
Not sure if they read (or at least scour with spider-bots) this and similar sites for insight what needs fixing - if I knew a contact point I'd write to them but won't spend time researching their feedback channels...
The S camera rocks otherwise, wish you to get yours soon!
I'll let them know whenever I get the chance
I wanted to use the SB Nation Android app, which is basically a program for reading sports articles.
However, I encountered a problem, which I wrote about to the dev:
I just wanted to alert you to what seems to be a bug in your app.
Basically, I cannot see any text in any of the articles. The
background of the articles is a light gray; pictures and text within
quotes show up (so do comments). However, the main text body does not.
I'm running an HTC Flyer on Honeycomb OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The dev wrote back:
While we don't have an HTC Flyer to test with, but one thing you could try is to check your device settings for something along the lines of
"hardware acceleration" or "GPU acceleration" and turn this option off.
While these options generally improve UI responsiveness, it's a known bug
for them to wreak havoc on embedded web views. Let me know if that does or doesn't resolve the issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there a way to switch off hardware acceleration to test this issue?
I think the app developer is blowing smoke or smoking blow. There is no user setting to turn off the GPU on any Android device. A properly written app can deal with those settings for example MX player knows which formats can use HW accel and which one's need SW codecs.
If you are running on a rooted ROM, there is a parameter in the system/build.prop file
video.accelerate.hw=1
you can change that to 0 and reboot to see what happens. It will definitely slow other things down though.
Acceleration off
Sir,
how can i switch off the HW acceleration,will be helpfull if anybody teach me how to build custom rom with HW acceleration off for nexus 4.
pls help to to learn from you.
By A Request I Finnaly Managed To Open This Thread.
The Goal Of This Thread Is
-To Allocate All The Pros. Cons. & Issues All Over The Net
After Long Awaited ICS Upgrade Of 'SONY XPERIA S'
-Posting Solutions If Anyone Finds Out One
A Little Words:
The Stable GB Of Sony In Sony Xperia S Was Outstanding,But When We're Dealing With ICS In It,
Results Are Quite Disappointing As Well As Comforting...?
With The ICS Update The Fact 'Weak Princess' Gets More Prominent In Describing The Phone One State
That Clearly Means The Beauty Increases With Lazyness?
While Maintaining The Style Statement, Sony Forgot The Market Craze Of Performace
And On The Top Of That Missing Feature (Wi-Fi Direct) Is Shownig A Perfect Crime
On Their White Paper
'But They Did There Best'-Could Have Been Said If It Was A Bit Early:victory:
If Its Possible I'll MAke A Quick Comparison Video In Future As My Friend Has Another Xperia S Still On GB
And Showing You The Advantages And Disadvantages... (GB v/s ICS.....FIGHT!!!!!!):fingers-crossed:
Let's Chart It Without Further Delay
PROS.:angel:
1>UI Is Stylish & Fast (In Some Respect, Such As-Folder Viewing,Booting)
2>Gallery
a)Stylish And Usefull
b)Geo Tagging View
3>Walkman Music Player
a)Support .FLAC Format
b)Quality And Variety Of Sound Enhancement Is Prominent
c)Visualisation Is Very Attractive
c)Louder Sound In Bluetooth Streaming
4>Movies App-New Approach With Even Pirated Print Support, Informing The Details From Database
5>Camera
a)Still Photo Quality Increases (Still To Be Confirmed After I Test It)
b)Video Bitrate Increases (Still To Be Confirmed After I Test It)
6>Browser
a)More Finctionality With FAST Performance (Pinch & Zoom,Text Rendering etc)
(Even 3rd Party Browser Get rids Of The Lag e.g Dolphine Browser)
b)Chrome Bookmarks Sync
7>ICS Features
a)Task & Notification Manager
b)Data Usage Monitor
c)New Different Layout Keyboard
d)Settings Rearranged
e)Developers Section In Settings
f)New Resizable Widgets
g)Face Lock
h)New Phone And Messageing Finctionality & Layout
i)New Applications (e.g EA Games*,Notes...etc)
And..etc..etc..etc
CONS.:crying:
1>Laggy UI
a)In Pinch To Floating Widgets
b)Browsing Through App List And Homescreens
2>Gallery Is Laggy In Image Viewing,Pinch Zooming
3>Missing ICS Feature 'Wi-Fi Direct'
4>Movie App Does Not Support Regular movie Format (.MKV With .AAC)
5>Camera With No New Funtionality-Such As Burst Mode, Or Frame Grabber
6>Gaming Framerate Drops,Thats Benchmark
7>Power Saver Mode Malfuntions When Its Killed By ICS Task Killer
And Two Both Saver (Low Battery Saver & Time Saver Does not Work Simultaneously)
ISSUES
1>Wi-Fi Signal Drops*
2>Bravia Engine Not Working When Browsing Images In Gallery*
3>Very Low Ram, Effects In**
a)Multitasking
b)Application Loading (Specially In 'Phone' Appliacation)
c)Music Player Statter
c/a)Laggy Bluetooth Audio (Specially In Gaming & Multitasking
d)Video Framerate Drops In In-build Player
e)Low Gaming Benchmark
5>Appearance Of Useless Applications Can Not Be Uninstalled (For Non-Rooted Device)
6>Facebook Application Gets Older Layout
7>Battery Backup Drops Then GB .75 Kernel
(The '*' Points Didn't Occur In My Case After I Updated To ICS But I Mentioned This As Its Global Summery)
(In '**' Case I Like To Say That There Is A Fact Exist That Is 'Low RAM Is Useless RAM In Linux, But Still Some Say
The Free Ram Is Needed For Upcoming Application To Startup, But Still I've Mentioned These In Isues In Low RAM Segment)
Solutions
To Be Honest None Have Best Solutions For These Issues
But I Like To Shere A Partial Solution For This Low RAM Issue [By Googling A Little, I Came By This Process
Thats Disabling Some Applications In Settings>Apps>All (Tab)]
I've Attached Some Screenshots Informing You Some Apps I've Disabled To Get Some RAM (And It Worked).
As I'm A Medium Application User,So Before Doing This I Had 95-110MB RAM, Now Its 150-220 MB RAM
My View:
Its CONFUSING, Thats All I Can Say.I Wouldn't Reccomand You Guys To Upgrade Upto ICS,If Your Having No Issues
As You Can Watch Movies Even Without ICS Movie App
Play Songs Without So Called ICS Walkman Music App
Browse Pictures Well In GB Gallery, By Taking The Open Soruce Android Market Wide Range Of Gallerys Are Present
But Also I Wouldn't Discourage You To Roll Back To GB, If You've Dropped into ICS Dimention
Just One Loyal Statement Is, 'Oh! Sony Please Make A Bug Fix Update, Or Confirm Jelly Bean As Soon You Can'
(Not Taking Half Of The Year To Roll Out)
Thats All The Talk
Any Other Pros. Cons. And Issues And Even Solution If You Came Accross
Posting Under Is Welcome:laugh:
!!!Hit Thanks If This Hepls You!!!
Hmmm!!!
Anime13 said:
CONS.:crying:
1>Laggy UI
a)In Pinch To Floating Widgets
b)Browsing Through App List And Homescreens
2>Gallery Is Laggy In Image Viewing,Pinch Zooming
3>Missing ICS Feature 'Wi-Fi Direct'
4>Movie App Does Not Support Regular movie Format (.MKV With .AAC)
5>Camera With No New Funtionality-Such As Burst Mode, Or Frame Grabber
6>Gaming Framerate Drops,Thats Benchmark
7>Power Saver Mode Malfuntions When Its Killed By ICS Task Killer
And Two Both Saver (Low Battery Saver & Time Saver Does not Work Simultaneously)
ISSUES
1>Wi-Fi Signal Drops*
2>Bravia Engine Not Working When Browsing Images In Gallery*
3>Very Low Ram, Effects In**
a)Multitasking
b)Application Loading (Specially In 'Phone' Appliacation)
c)Music Player Statter
c/a)Laggy Bluetooth Audio (Specially In Gaming & Multitasking
d)Video Framerate Drops In In-build Player
e)Low Gaming Benchmark
5>Appearance Of Useless Applications Can Not Be Uninstalled (For Non-Rooted Device)
7>Battery Backup Drops Then GB .75 Kernel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Before I start, you should know one thing, when writing pros and cons, never be as subjective and biased as you have been. Most of your issues are totally device related and while some are, they can easily be fixed rather than whining about.
I don't know how you have a Laggy UI but ICS on my S runs smoother than my dad's S3. So make sure you do a full reset even if it is painful and most of the times, it's bad apps that are solely responsible. So try things before you reach a conclusion. For all I know, a percentage of people have it and NOT ALL so it is definitely device dependant.
Gallery works great for me, get burst shot mode using Camera ZoomFX, use different power Saver app from Play Store. There are loads. Benchmarks dropped! Are you kidding me? Did you check figures or played an actual game to understand that? Battery Backup is easy 1day+ with WiFi or 3G on the whole time. No stutter for me despite using Chrome in the background. Low RAM is your mental state and 200MB of RAM is good enough for every app. Haven't faced a low RAM issue yet
Only Bluetooth Audio, low WiFi signal and a few more are true issues rest there is nothing else. Next time, PLEASE READ facts before you become judgemental and tell people not to upgrade to something better only because you didn't try hard enough
Sent from my LT26i using xda app-developers app
Yes as a4rocks mentioned already, those issues are specific to your device and I have none of the issues that you have mentioned except for the lack of wifi direct.
My phone is now smoother than on GB with ZERO lag.
Thanks for summarizing this. This is useful for people like me who are still debating whether to take the plunge.
btw, any updates on the camera quality after the upgrade?
Sent from my LT26i using xda app-developers app
the only issue i had was wifi signal dropping, but somehow after a few days it seems a lot better, doesn't cut out at all now, don't know how but it fixed itself!.
no lag at all, very happy with ics upgrade and def wouldn't consider going back to gb
for me the only annoying thing in ICS is the slow launch of some apps specially the "Phone" Application every time i leave the app for more than 5 minutes. it launches slower than GB takes 2-3 seconds to load. its very annoying otherwise everything is good and i am very happy with the upgrade!
I flashed the original firmware that came with my phone yesterday then updated to ICS using SUS + factory reset.
It seems updating using SUS is much better than flashtools,everything is working as it should and the battery is even better.
PS: not rooted only uninstall unneeded apps.
Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 2
Don't capitalize the first characters of every words like that!
--------------------------------
Sent from Sony Xperia™ S White
a4rocks said:
Before I start, you should know one thing, when writing pros and cons, never be as subjective and biased as you have been. Most of your issues are totally device related and while some are, they can easily be fixed rather than whining about.
I don't know how you have a Laggy UI but ICS on my S runs smoother than my dad's S3. So make sure you do a full reset even if it is painful and most of the times, it's bad apps that are solely responsible. So try things before you reach a conclusion. For all I know, a percentage of people have it and NOT ALL so it is definitely device dependant.
Gallery works great for me, get burst shot mode using Camera ZoomFX, use different power Saver app from Play Store. There are loads. Benchmarks dropped! Are you kidding me? Did you check figures or played an actual game to understand that? Battery Backup is easy 1day+ with WiFi or 3G on the whole time. No stutter for me despite using Chrome in the background. Low RAM is your mental state and 200MB of RAM is good enough for every app. Haven't faced a low RAM issue yet
Only Bluetooth Audio, low WiFi signal and a few more are true issues rest there is nothing else. Next time, PLEASE READ facts before you become judgemental and tell people not to upgrade to something better only because you didn't try hard enough
Sent from my LT26i using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So You Are Saying Ur Not Having Any Issues
Besides As For My Part There Is A Issue Of Wi-Fi Signal Drops Happens To So Many
But Guess What,It Didn't Happen To Me!!!
Actually I've Allocated Worldwide Issues,Not For Solely Mine,
And I've Never Discourage Anyone To Stay In GB
Ok,Now About Your Point,
At First My Nature Is Always Overcoming The Compromises With Essentials
Not Whinning,But These Are Extremely Problematic
Now If Its Possible I'll Prove You With A GB vs ICS Xperia Video
That How Lag Occurs
I've Played Mass Effect Infiltration And Found Lag
Music Player Is Awsome
But When There Should Be Unstoppable Plying In Shuffle Mode (Had This In GB)
It Stops After One Or Two Songs
Ok I Really Like To Use Power Saver App Coz It Has A Suitable Widget
And Now
Power Saver Mode Malfuntions When Its Killed By ICS Task Killer
And Two Both Saver (Low Battery Saver & Time Saver Does not Work Simultaneously)
You Are Saying Pinch In Homescreen To Float Widget Is Not Laggy????
Well I Use 12 Widgets Which Coz Lags,But In GB It Was Fine...With All Those 12 Widgets
And really Annoying Is Phone Dialer App Take 3-4 Sec To Load
Yse Battery Backup Is OK For Me
And As For Camera I Use Procapure,Camera 360,360 Panaroma,Paper Camera,Fast Burst Mode...etc
I KnewSony Wouldn't Add Finctionality in Camera,But I Said Before,Its Not Mine,Its All Over Problem...
Thank You For Your Concern,If You Can Upload An Only Home Screen Video To Prove Its Smooth Specially With 12 Widgets!!!
Umm, see here's the thing, most of the issues are quite easily solvable. There are some issues which have irked me and chief among them is Loss of camera features just to put the Sony camera which I did not like one bit. But then most of the issues aren't really there. Its actually quite unbelievable for see to even imagine ICS lagging considering how it runs in mine. And I have 15 widgets and am a total widget hungry guy and 2 of them are Sony weather widgets but no lag and I am talking stock CH firmware. Apologies but my bandwidth in India is absolutely ridiculous so it will take almost a day to upload a video and I just can't get enough of it but I really want to. Phone dialer app open is 2-3 seconds for me and could be faster. Will move to a custom ROM for that. Power saver app is just stupid and the first thing I did after rooting was to remove it. Do try alternate power saving applications. Much more worth it. Trust me, the widget is neither gimmicky nor nice. Regarding games, I don't really play high graphics dependent games but despite underclocking my processor, I get smooth games and love every bit of it. I was just saying because some parts of your thread is misleading especially for new members. Edit it accordingly and you can remove Laggy UI and bits like these which is a small population's problem. Lets share the bigger problems.
gm007 said:
I flashed the original firmware that came with my phone yesterday then updated to ICS using SUS + factory reset.
It seems updating using SUS is much better than flashtools,everything is working as it should and the battery is even better.
PS: not rooted only uninstall unneeded apps.
Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about the quicklaunch function (on ICS)?.. I mean is the launch and capture feature working flawlessly for you? I have tried three ICS roms so far with full wipe/clean install including my own region ICS rom but i have buggy quicklaunch functioning in all of them. It doesn't work sometimes, say twice out of 10 trials!
Apart from that, i have no issues with ICS so far, which is faster/smoother, except few minor bugs like in the timer app. Battery life is almost the same as .76 GB. I do notice occaisonal lags/ FC on selecting no background apps (developer options) though, solved by reverting back to standard limit.
Anime13 said:
So You Are Saying Ur Not Having Any Issues
Besides As For My Part There Is A Issue Of Wi-Fi Signal Drops Happens To So Many
But Guess What,It Didn't Happen To Me!!!
Actually I've Allocated Worldwide Issues,Not For Solely Mine,
And I've Never Discourage Anyone To Stay In GB
Ok,Now About Your Point,
At First My Nature Is Always Overcoming The Compromises With Essentials
Not Whinning,But These Are Extremely Problematic
Now If Its Possible I'll Prove You With A GB vs ICS Xperia Video
That How Lag Occurs
I've Played Mass Effect Infiltration And Found Lag
Music Player Is Awsome
But When There Should Be Unstoppable Plying In Shuffle Mode (Had This In GB)
It Stops After One Or Two Songs
Ok I Really Like To Use Power Saver App Coz It Has A Suitable Widget
And Now
Power Saver Mode Malfuntions When Its Killed By ICS Task Killer
And Two Both Saver (Low Battery Saver & Time Saver Does not Work Simultaneously)
You Are Saying Pinch In Homescreen To Float Widget Is Not Laggy????
Well I Use 12 Widgets Which Coz Lags,But In GB It Was Fine...With All Those 12 Widgets
And really Annoying Is Phone Dialer App Take 3-4 Sec To Load
Yse Battery Backup Is OK For Me
And As For Camera I Use Procapure,Camera 360,360 Panaroma,Paper Camera,Fast Burst Mode...etc
I KnewSony Wouldn't Add Finctionality in Camera,But I Said Before,Its Not Mine,Its All Over Problem...
Thank You For Your Concern,If You Can Upload An Only Home Screen Video To Prove Its Smooth Specially With 12 Widgets!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should add " DON POST ANY NEGATIVE COMMENT "
in your first post as you seem like cant accept it and reply with provocative post .
Dpk1 said:
How about the quicklaunch function (on ICS)?.. I mean is the launch and capture feature working flawlessly for you? I have tried three ICS roms so far with full wipe/clean install including my own region ICS rom but i have buggy quicklaunch functioning in all of them. It doesn't work sometimes, say twice out of 10 trials!
Apart from that, i have no issues with ICS so far, which is faster/smoother, except few minor bugs like in the timer app. Battery life is almost the same as .76 GB. I do notice occaisonal lags/ FC on selecting no background apps (developer options) though, solved by reverting back to standard limit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tried the quick launch for 10 times and all are successfully recorded.
Maybe something wron with your camera button.
Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 2
Ok I got you
Thank you for advice,i was looking for some solution
Ok let me tell you how I updated my device
1)copied all my vid aud files in pc
2) from settings formatted the internal storage
3) updated with PCC from .75 GB
So flashing CH doesn't void guarantee?sorry I don't know much about Flashing
And I must say,
Pinching in homescreen to Float Widget is laggy even from GB
And I really thought it would fix in ICS
So I'll show I video as soon as possible
Well I had no offence pal.
And well in other blogs and post people are going crazy with lags
Anime13 said:
Ok I got you
Thank you for advice,i was looking for some solution
Ok let me tell you how I updated my device
1)copied all my vid aud files in pc
2) from settings formatted the internal storage
3) updated with PCC from .75 GB
So flashing CH doesn't void guarantee?sorry I don't know much about Flashing
And I must say,
Pinching in homescreen to Float Widget is laggy even from GB
And I really thought it would fix in ICS
So I'll show I video as soon as possible
Well I had no offence pal.
And well in other blogs and post people are going crazy with lags
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know man, don't worry. I may have been harsh myself too and apologies for it. But fact is the problems are rectifiable. I don't think you would like to unlock your bootloader (which most probably MIGHT not void warranty but gives you awesome stuff) but if you do, it would be the best thing, whatever small lags that are there totally goes away with a custom ROM like KA Xperia SSpeed. But Flashtool doesn't void warranty and you can try and flash another region's firmware to check if it could improve. Do a full wipe and start afresh. Would give you the best experience. No need for a video, I understand what you are trying to say and it might happen. But this is more device and config dependent then the ICS update as a whole
@Anime13
I too had buggy fast capture when I was on Swiss ICS firmware without factory reset. But a few days back I flashed Indian ICS firmware after a factory reset and now my phone works perfect. Fast capture works as good as GB now. Works every single time.
On ICS you cant change the incoming call notification and the sms/email notification tone volumes independantly. I'm fairly certain you could change these settings independantly under GB. Can anyone still on GB confirm this?
gm007 said:
I just tried the quick launch for 10 times and all are successfully recorded.
Maybe something wron with your camera button.
Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah at first i thought so, but then when i flashed back to GB .76 the camera button (quicklaunch) works perfectly. Played with it about 40-50 times without fail! A couple of guys also have confirmed this problem on the ICS thread, so i guess it might be ICS problem.. but if you say yours is working fine, it makes me wonder whether i should try the SUS update for myself !
Just noticed the notification LED doesn't blink with new emails/sms/missed call. Apparently known Sony bug, is it working for anyone?