SimplePiano V4.3
SimplePiano with the SP_mickesjo WVGA Skin
As the name suggests it's a simple piano application. I took over "CrisRowlands SimplePiano" after Cris decided to give up developing it (Original thread). The main reason I took over is because I wanted to implement multitouch. I own HTC HD2 so my emphasize was on the WVGA format, but the application should also support VGA resolution. It should be pretty easy to create skins for other resolutions as well...
Features:
WVGA, VGA, QVGA, HVGA versions.
It has three octaves.
Record and Playback.
Dualtouch via the PinchToZoom events (not ideal but the best I could find...)
Customizable skins.
Customizable sounds (currently include Piano, Acoustic Guitar & Violin).
Currently in develop:
Continuous sliding of the keyboard view.
Change the skn files to support arbitrary number of keys.
CHANGELOG:
21.06.10(4.3)
Added two single finger chord modes (Major and Minor) - Requires special skin. I don't like this solution so I didn't follow it. If anyone is interested in this please let me know...
Added minimum note sustain length control (in milliseconds). If minimum sustain is not specified the full sample is played.
Added support for looping over the sample (by looping over the sample) Two samples can be specified, one is played once in the beginning, and the second is played over and over until the key is released. If the second sample is not specified the first one is used for the loop. This feature requires appropriate sound samples to be available.
Sounds are controlled via "Sound.lst" file. Different behavior of the notes (those mentioned above) can be controlled via this file.
Added OK/Cancel button to the settings dialog.
Vibration LED index can be now set via the "Device" tab in the settings dialog.
Polyphony can control to the "Device" tab in the settings dialog.
Fixed a problem where SimplePiano closed if an incompatible skin was chosen.
Fixed issue where bitmaps were not always clipped to bounds.
Fixed crash when sound file did not exist.
Changed applications icon (thanks mickesjo)
11.06.10(4.2) Added some exception handling during initialization and a vga skin for the Default skin. Fixed the link to point here.
10.06.10(4.0) Initial release including the new features (dualtouch, recording etc. as desribed in this post).
Screenshots:
Skins: Default WVGA skin, MewSkin WVGA skin, MewSkin VGA skin, SP_mickesjo WVGA skin, Saplorer UI WVGA skin
Settings Dialog
Download:
SimplePiano V4.3 (WVGA/VGA/HVGA/QVGA)
Alternative Download(Uploading) (including mickesjo's skin and Osprey00's alternative piano sounds - thanks to Osprey00)
Additional Skins:
(must be installed in the same location as the main application)
HVGA Rescale of the original skin (thanks to sam-2007 on post #130).
MewSkin (WVGA/VGA)
SP_mickesjo (WVGA/VGA/QVGA), thanks mickesjo. atlaswing created replacements key images, these can be found on post #47. HVGA version (thanks to sam-2007 on post #130).
Saplorer UI (WVGA), thanks xclarinetistx
Additional Sounds (thanks conantroutman):
(must be installed in the same location as the main application)
Violin
Acoustic Guitar
Piano Samples 8bit (lower quality) - these samples replace the default piano samples that comes with SimplePiano.
Alternative piano samples (thanks to Osprey00)
Rectangular QVGA (320x320) patch - extract the files from the zip files into the "Default" skin folder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Previous version:
SimplePiano V4.2 (WVGA/VGA)
For QVGA the modified default skin has to be installed too.
Skins:
Default (WVGA/VGA/QVGA)(CrisRownlands' original skin)
MewSkin (WVGA/VGA)
SP_mickesjo (WVGA/VGA/QVGA), thanks mickesjo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Other Notes:
If I may quote Cris:
I hope you folks like it
Feedback is appreciated, improvements can only happen if I know what you folks want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some documentation
Some useful information about the *.skn files and the Sound.lst file.
The *.skn files
These files define the location of the different items on the screen. For each screen resolution the skin supports there should be one skn file. When a skin is chosen, SimplePiano search the skin directory for a compatible skn file and loads the skin according to its content.
here's an example for a skn file
Code:
Display=0,0,480,800
This line declare the target resolution of the skin. It is given in the following format: 0,0,Width,Height
Code:
Name=mewskin
The name of the skin, currently not used for anything.
Code:
Octave1=360,10,120,120
Octave1Image=OneNormal.png,OnePressed.png
Each key should include those two lines. The first line describe the location and size of the image, using the following format:
KeyName=Left,Top,Width,HeightThe second line points to the images to be used with this key. The following format is used:
KeyNameImage=NormalStateImage, PressedStateImageWhere KeyName is one of the following:
Octave1, Octave2, Octave3
Quit, Settings,
Record, Replay,
NormalKey1, ..., NormalKey8
SharpKey1, ..., SharpKey6All these keys must be specified.
NormalKey# stands for the normal note keys (C,D,E,F,G,A,B & C)
SharpKey# stands for the semitone keys (C#, Eb, F#, Ab, Bb & C#)
In addition the toolbar background has to be specified as well:
Code:
Toolbar=360,0,120,800
ToolbarImage=Background.png
unlike a regular key here only one image is supplied.
In addition the optional chord modifier keys can be specified (using the same logic):
Code:
ChordMajor=-30,0,60,60
ChordMajorImage=MajorNormal.bmp,MajorPressed.bmp
ChordMinor=-30,60,60,60
ChordMinorImage=MinorNormal.bmp,MinorPressed.bmp
The Sounds.lst file
This file defines the sounds to be used with the selected instrument. First of all it binds a note to a wav file. In addition different properties can be set for each note, as I'll explain below:
Code:
[1]
The file is divided into octave, currently there are 4 octaves (since SimplePiano also includes C4 &C#4). Each octave is titled with its number.
Code:
C=Data\C1.wav, Loop=0
Then, the sound files for this octave are given. The following format is used:
Note=FileName, Option1=value1, Option2=value2,...Note is one of the 12 notes in an octave. The following notation is used: C,Cs,D,Eb,E,F,Fs,G,Ab,A,Bb,B.
Then a relative path to the sound file is specified. Followed by a list of parameters and values pairs separated by comas. These parameters are optional. The following parameters can be declared:
Loop=#This specify how many times to loop over the sample (0 - plays the note once, -1 loop infinitely). If a non-zero value is given for a note, the note will be played as long as the key is pressed, once the key is released the playing will cease immediately. By default (if not specified) Loop=0.
MinimumLength=#This specify the minimum length (in milliseconds) a note is to be played. If this value is -1 the sample will be fully played. any other (non-negative number), the note will be played at leas this amount of time. For example, if a value of 500 is specified, every touch on the keyboard will generate a 500ms sound. If the key is held longer than 500ms the sound will stop when the key is released (or the sample reaches its end). The default behavior depends on the "Loop" setting: If Loop=0 MinimumLength=-1. Otherwise MinimumLength=0.
Good job man
Good luck with this
I don't suppose you could maybe send me a copy of the source code etc?
Maybe upload it & give me a link.
The main reason I wasn't able to implement these features is because I don't know how. It would be quite interesting to learn about how you did it
good job on significantly improving chris' already nice work
And dang you've beaten me to first reply
ephestione said:
good job on significantly improving chris' already nice work
And dang you've beaten me to first reply
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cris_rowlands said:
Good job man
Good luck with this
I don't suppose you could maybe send me a copy of the source code etc?
Maybe upload it & give me a link.
The main reason I wasn't able to implement these features is because I don't know how. It would be quite interesting to learn about how you did it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks guys...
Cris... no problems, just let me tidy the project a little...
I love your simple piono 4.1. Now 4.2 should be better than 4.1. Thanks for the updated version...
OP, thanks for the APP. I look forward to future updates once more of the bugs have been knocked out!
Update: added a download link to the mewskin, this is nicer looking especially for the VGA resolutions (but also on the WVGA). Kudos to the author (xxmewstarxx)...
Just install the mewskin.cab after installing SimplePiano (no need to reinstall).
Z.
for now, I vote for default to 0 interval between multitouch keypresses, instead of 300ms
Not much of a big deal as you can change it yourself, yet if you already restarted to register multitouch, and you change that option later, you need to restart again
I am also thinking about spanning through more than 3 octaves, and a different method of changing the octave that lets you do that faster and more easily, will report back when I have a better idea
Nice!
Unfortunately the space on the screen ins't that much but if there was a way to "somehow" squeeze in and create spaces for Chord Symbols/Buttons and when these are being pressed, a chord is being played (a flat chords, an arpeggio). Said chord-sounds could be default-sounds distributed with the application or pre-recorded by the user. Something similar to those Casio-chords (or whatever they are called) which do the fingering for you. Another option could be that it played just the root of the chord so one could create some variety and a little base-line while playing the melody on the normal keyboard.
The problem, I guess, is surely the space on the screen and the limit of two touches simultaneously.
Just some thoughts....
ephestione said:
I am also thinking about spanning through more than 3 octaves, and a different method of changing the octave that lets you do that faster and more easily, will report back when I have a better idea
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tilleke said:
Nice!
Unfortunately the space on the screen ins't that much but if there was a way to "somehow" squeeze in and create spaces for Chord Symbols/Buttons and when these are being pressed, a chord is being played (a flat chords, an arpeggio). Said chord-sounds could be default-sounds distributed with the application or pre-recorded by the user. Something similar to those Casio-chords (or whatever they are called) which do the fingering for you. Another option could be that it played just the root of the chord so one could create some variety and a little base-line while playing the melody on the normal keyboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, as for the 3 octave limitation, that could be easily broken, just that I don't have the sounds... If someone's willing to generate them I'll include them in the application.
About changing octaves I thought of two possibilities, one would be to just add two buttons at the end of the keyboard that moves one octave up or down. Another possibility is to create a slider above (or below) the keyboard on which you can slide left or right to change octaves. Sliding can also be continuous so that the first note is necessarily C. Such slider can also have some buttons to toggle chords buttons as tilleke suggeted...
tilleke said:
The problem, I guess, is surely the space on the screen and the limit of two touches simultaneously.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really hope HTC will release some proper API that supports real multitouch...
Z.
tilleke said:
Nice!
Unfortunately the space on the screen ins't that much but if there was a way to "somehow" squeeze in and create spaces for Chord Symbols/Buttons and when these are being pressed, a chord is being played (a flat chords, an arpeggio). Said chord-sounds could be default-sounds distributed with the application or pre-recorded by the user. Something similar to those Casio-chords (or whatever they are called) which do the fingering for you. Another option could be that it played just the root of the chord so one could create some variety and a little base-line while playing the melody on the normal keyboard.
The problem, I guess, is surely the space on the screen and the limit of two touches simultaneously.
Just some thoughts....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
zevele said:
Well, as for the 3 octave limitation, that could be easily broken, just that I don't have the sounds... If someone's willing to generate them I'll include them in the application.
About changing octaves I thought of two possibilities, one would be to just add two buttons at the end of the keyboard that moves one octave up or down. Another possibility is to create a slider above (or below) the keyboard on which you can slide left or right to change octaves. Sliding can also be continuous so that the first note is necessarily C. Such slider can also have some buttons to toggle chords buttons as tilleke suggeted...
I really hope HTC will release some proper API that supports real multitouch...
Z.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was thinking the exact same things regarding octave switching, more like automatic recognition, as in when you press a key near the border, the keyboard gets slided past the border of a X length to accomodate for the "direction" you're taking
And tilleke suggestion is very interesting.
Here's my take: just like you play two sounds together when you do multitouch, you don't need to really record a chord, you only need to play 3 sounds together.
Example, put a swith on top, with three positions:
1) Normal
2) Major chord
3) Minor chord
Then you press, say, C
Cases:
"normal" : the note C is played
"major" : the notes C E and G are played
"minor" : the notes C D# and G are played
THe switch would be a slider onr, because a toggle one (1-2-3-1-2 and so on) would take too long if you need 1 and you're currently on 2.
Glad to see somebody picking up on this where Chris left off.....
If you want more octaves I'd be happy to provide them.
Just out of interest, are the samples in this version the same ones from Chris' original version?
conantroutman said:
Glad to see somebody picking up on this where Chris left off.....
If you want more octaves I'd be happy to provide them.
Just out of interest, are the samples in this version the same ones from Chris' original version?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More samples can't hurt, but at the moment I'm trying to solve the chords feature...
The samples are the same ones from the previous version.
Thanks,
Z.
Totally awesome. Poor WM support. it seems like everyone writes off Windows platform as thou its limited, but if you had the support you show with this simple piano, the experience level and communication would be thought on a positive (note) about windows platform... GOOD JOB!!
Thanks zevele for the work!
xda member TWolf has a FlashPiano that he stopped developing. The program itself has a great sample of 4 instruments in mp3 form, but I don't know enough about music to rename them. Maybe somebody here can take a look and rename the files. Here's the link and source code from TWolf:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2806409&postcount=126
Would be nice to include mellotron in this, like the Manetron for iPhone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcIRG1X0VMs
dio62000 said:
Would be nice to include mellotron in this, like the Manetron for iPhone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcIRG1X0VMs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seeing these applications on the iphone just depresses me... they run so much better than on the windows mobile...
Specifically to your question... If you mean playing several instruments in parallel, it shouldn't be to complicated to implement...
Okay, here's my idea for a solution for the chords feature, I've added two buttons below the keyboard one toggles a major chord and the other a minor. As all other buttons these can be moved and changed through the skin files. Please try it and let me know what you think...
SimplePiano
http://rapidshare.com/files/398328285/SimplePianoV43beta.CAB
MewSkin
http://rapidshare.com/files/398329265/mewskincabV43beta.CAB
Thanks,
Z.
Can this be hosted somewhere else? Rapidshare gives some of us problems and the the download limitation sucks. I can't download the v43beta after just downloading the v42 version. My suggestion is drop.io or dropbox... You can even use the free Skydrive for this.
Thanks for the good work...
Tip to read this review:
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]All links are screenshots that open in a new window, so feel free to click them to see what I'm talking about.
To make reading more comfortable I recommend you make your window much, much more narrow.[/font]
A SHORT INTRODUCTION ABOUT THE REVIEWER (THAT'S ME)
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Hello fellow Neowinians! First I'd like to introduce myself. I've been a long time Sony (Ericsson) fan. I've never had any other phones, and after quite a long history I've arrived at the Xperia S. I've had it since launch date. I'm currently studying applied IT (which is a University College course including loads of Java, a bit of SQL, webdesign and assembler).[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]On holidays I work at The Phone House, the ex-Belgian branch of the UK-basec Carphone Warehouse, now part of a Belgian ISP. My job there isn't selling mobiles, it's selling the right mobiles for the right customer. I'm one of the only store employees not under commission, so I sell what people need, not what the sales team wants to sell. I try not to be biased in this, you'll find me recommending a Nokia Lumia as well as a Samsung Galaxy Mini or a HTC One X just as easy as a Sony device. I do try to keep customers away from LG, I think everyone understands why.[/font]
ICS ON THE SONY XPERIA S
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]On the 21st of June 2012, an otherwise unremarkable day, Sony started the rollout of the long-awaited (but never delayed) ICS update for the Xperia S. As some regions got it before others and I absolutely couldn't wait, I flashed my phone with a Swiss software build to get the update from the first minute. Since it was only available on rapidshare I uploaded it to my own webserver, which got me a serious warning from my webhost since I managed to get over 2TB of traffic in under an hour.[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Sony has been surprisingly quiet about the update. Where the devices from 2011 received two betas and a ton of information along the development process, Sony was completely silent about the Xperia S update. Just today we got the first bits of information from Sony, and they were quite minimal. After a few hours of thorough experimenting with the update I've found a lot of interesting things to show to you, things Sony chose not to brag with (even though they have a lot to brag about).[/font]
What's new in ICS for the Xperia S - Sony video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i189IkIvJc0
BENCHMARKS, JUST TO GET THEM OUT OF THE WAY
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I don't care much about benchmarks, and you shouldn't either, but you can't call something like this a review anymore without benchmarks. I've compared the scores with the review on GSMArena.[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]All benchmarks were done on a device with all my regular apps installed. No taskkillers were used, no root, no tweaks, and a ton of background syncs enabled.[/font]
BenchmarkPi
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Lower is better.
Score on 2.3.7: 536ms.
Score on 4.0.4: 541ms - no difference[/font]
LinPack
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Higher is better.
Score on 2.3.7: 86.7.
Score on 4.0.4: 78.8 - a bit less good[/font]
NenaMark 2
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Higher is better.
Score on 2.3.7: 37.5 FPS.
Score on 4.0.4: 36.7 FPS - no difference[/font]
SunSpider
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Stock browser, lower is better.
Score on 2.3.7: 2587.
Score on 4.0.4: 1822 - major improvement (beats Galaxy Nexus)![/font]
BrowserMark
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Stock browser, Higher is better.
Score on 2.3.7: 74990.
Score on 4.0.4: 91391 - good improvement[/font]
AnTuTu
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Many people (including me) don't like this benchmark, but I decided to include it for completeness. The score under 2.3.7 was taken from the Dutch Tweakers.net-review.
Score on 2.3.7: 6266
Score on 4.0.4: 6749 - minor improvement.[/font]
FIRST THINGS FIRST: LOCKSCREEN + LAUNCHER
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]The two only things on your phone you'll probably see every day are a very important part of the software. An annoying lockscreen or launcher can ruin your entire experience. Sony didn't change much, but not all changes were for the better.[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]On the lockscreen the only change you'll notice right away is that where there used to be an unlock slider and a silent mode slider, the silent mode slider is now replaced with a camera slider. While I can understand a fast way to access the camera for devices without physical camera button, it feels completely out of place. It was nice to be able to quickly turn off sound in class. I don't get why Sony decided to make this change. Of course all the other good stuff is still there. Another change for the worse are the music controls. While on 2.3.7 they still showed a (static) seek bar you're now stuck with just three buttons. It also no longer shows the artist but is now limited to the song title.[/font]
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Another new thing is the ability to swipe open the notification pane from the lockscreen. You still get Facebook notifications and missed calls on the lockscreen and can swipe directly into a text you received. Of course the mandatory useless Face Unlock gimmick is present too, aside all the usual unlock methods.[/font]
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[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]The launcher didn't change much either. The only real ICS feature it introduced is the ability to resize widgets (which works better than I expected). There are some other changes. Tapping or long-pressing empty space now gives you a subtle bar at the top which allows you to either change the theme or wallpaper, or lets you add a widget. The widgetpicker does do a very good job in my opinion, I consider this a better approach than just adding widgets to the app tray. You still can't add or remove homescreens, you're stuck with the default amount of 5.[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]The app tray received a minor facelift too. As it's supposed to with the ICS style guidelines most controls have been moved to the top of the display. The home button to return to the homescreens has been removed, you'll now have to use the hardware back or home buttons to do that. You can still rearrange apps as you wish or sort them alphabetically, by install date or by most used first. As long as you don't have too many widgets operation is generally very smooth, better than it was on Gingerbread.[/font]
WALKMAN - WHAT'S IN A NAME
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]As an early sign of what's going to happen now Sony Ericsson dropped the Ericsson the Music app has been rebranded to Walkman. Might be a good way to get people familiar with the brand again after the iPod years. The app itself didn't change all too much. The theme got a bit more Holo (no more edges, aside the album art). Don't get me wrong though, it's by far the best looking and most functional music app I've used on any smartphone, including the iPhone.[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]It's the first time I've found a proper way to manage the play queue on any portable device, something I've always found extremely important. You can save your play queue as a playlist just as easily. Another rare thing is a built-in tag editor, including an automatic album art downloader (powered by Gracenote). You can even let the built-in Gracenote thingy download album art and artist images automatically, which will then fill your library artist views with nice photos, almost Zune-style. It is extremely slow though, it'll probably take about 4 hours for it to download images for all my 1300 songs, even over WiFi. Something I'll leave running overnight (will update thread with images).[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Another good thing about the music player is the customization. You can add shortcuts to artists and albums to the library view to find your favourite songs even faster, or you can just use the excellent built-in search. If you prefer your sound more bassy or with more treble you can use the 5-band equalizer (plus Clear Bass, a Sony technology that works really, really well) to tune everything the way you want it to. Sony's VPT surround widens the stereo a little, but not everyone likes those things. I find the Studio setting to be quite pleasant.[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]The Walkman app is an excellent music player. While it isn't perfect it's easily the best I've tried. It can be extended with plugins, unfortunately plugins from 2.3.7 (like the Last.fm scrobbler) seem broken. It's a shame Sony couldn't preserve plugin compatibility.[/font]
ALBUM, SIMPLY THE BEST
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]It might be a bit early to draw a conclusion so fast, but I'm quite confident about this. The Album app is terrific. It's extremely fast, has full geotagging support, a good editor, proper DLNA, very good integration with online photos and a great interface.[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]By default you browse your photos by date. You can also view photos with geotags directly on a map, or browse by folder. With a simple swipe to the left or right you can adjust the thumbnail size, and you see everything rearrange itself with wonderfully fluid animations. The editing tools include a full array of Instagram-like filters (lighting, effectsand color filters) that will make any hipster happier than a hipster is allowed to be. You can even give people a "Face glow" or "Face tan", whatever those might be.[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Everything is extremely fast and works very well, this is probably the best new app in the whole update, and it's something other manufacturers should take a very, very good look at.[/font]
FILMS - A BEAUTIFUL BUT PICKY MISTRESS
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]The Films app good and not good at the same time. While it's a good thing Sony decided to split up the Album and Films, it's a shame it still doesn't play all popular formats. Okay, I have to admit, it's not that bad. h264 or XviD video with AAC or MP3 audio plays fine, usually even in MKV containers, but aside that everything acts weird. MKV's with an AC3 audio track play without audio, but some MKV's don't play at all. It's a shame the app doesn't offer you to play them with DicePlayer instead, like the Gallery on 2.3.7 used to suggest.[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]But like I said, there are good things. It's very nice how it manages to recognize files in some magic way and fill it with nice images. Your Inception movie gets a proper image, description and list of actors, and your Mad Men episodes get grouped up nicely under a picture of Don and Joan, and upon tapping the series you get a clear episode list. No more renaming files or reading The.Walking.Dead.S01.E02.x264.obviouslypiratedcopy.[releasegroup].720p.mkv, since even those things are properly decoded into something like "The Walking Dead S01 E02", which is quite readable. It just works. Very nicely done![/font]
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[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Another good thing is that all videos that play with hardware acceleration can benefit from the Bravia Engine. It doesn't do very much, but it gives videos that little bit of extra contrast, saturation and sharpness. It's useless for 720p, but works nicely for things in a lower resolution. And oh yeah, the app remembers how far along you were in each file.[/font]
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[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]And that brings us to another issue, this time with the Xperia S in general. The internal memory is formatted in FAT32. That wouldn't be so bad if FAT32 didn't have a 4GB file size limit. A one-hour TV episode in 720p will fit fine, but don't think about watching full movies in 720p on your Xperia S or using HDMI. They just don't fit. I can understand FAT32 if you chose to allow mass storage, but since the Xperia S only lets you access the memory through MTP, Sony could've easily formatted the internal memory in a more flexible filesystem, ext3 for example.[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Conclusion: a decent app with some very good ideas, but more supported file formats are really needed. A fix for the 4GB file size limit would be nice too. In general, nothing worse than you get on another phone, but it doesn't come close to the versatility of third-party offerings.[/font]
HOLO FOR EVERYONE
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Sony did a great thing here. They were the very first "big" manufacturer to properly embrace Holo. HTC decided to go with their usual horrible color scheme and terrible icons (and decided to leave use hardware buttons but leave out a menu key), Samsung just does whatever it wants with the cheap-looking TouchWiz as usual, and LG, well, I'm not going to bother with LG. Did they actually show a working ICS yet?[/font]
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[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Sony did much, much better, and they wanted to. Their new devices (GX and SX) have on-screen keys, and all their apps in ICS (for the 2012 range) is fully optimized for ICS. The menu key has been retired, or is at least ready to be replaced by a menu button in the (already present) app bar, almost everything fits nicely to the style guidelines. Button bars and tab sections have been moved to the top of the screen and have been given a touch of Holo, for example in the Alarms app. The contacts and dialer app had a smaller but still fitting adjustment. The Calendar app has been given a reskin with some new app bar buttons and the built-in email app looks better than ever, still sporting the lovely landscape preview pane. I really like the light color scheme for work apps (mail, calendar, ...), it feels very natural in a way.[/font]
BACK UP AND RESTORE FOUND IT'S WAY BACK
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[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]It was available on the X10, then it wasn't anymore, then it was sort-of implemented in PC Companion, but now it's finally back. A proper back up and restore application that doesn't require you rooting your phone. I haven't tested the functionality yet, but it sure looks like it is fully capable of backing up all third-party applications, along with contacts, messages, settings, alarms, notes, ... You can even save the backup directly to a USB device connected through USB on-the-go. I might finally not have to re-do all Angry Birds levels every three months when I wipe my phone![/font]
A PLEASANT SURPRISE...
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]When I first started up the phone, I was surprised to see this little magic wand pop up on the keyboard when I wanted to enter my WiFi password. I was even more surprised to see what functionality hid behind the magic wand! The Xperia Keyboard received many more customization options. You now have three keyboard modes: phonepad (T9 mode), Full Keyboard or the newly introduced Full Keyboard Extra (with numbers and symbols on long-press). You can choose to disable or enable the full stop (.) and comma keys, and you can disable the smiley shortcut if you're not that kind of person, all to make room for a nice and wide spacebar. There are now three color themes (white, the default two-toneand black) to choose from too, another new addition.[/font]
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[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]But that's not the best thing. Let me remind you of how awful it usually is to switch languages on a phone keyboard. If you're lucky you can just tap a button to switch, if you're not you have to go into a menu and scroll through a list. Especially for people like me who switch between Dutch and English in almost every sentence this was usually horrible. Sony came up with a great solution. You can now select a secondary language. This means you get spelling corrections for both languages at the same time. It's something I've really, really enjoyed these past few hours, not having to worry about what language my keyboard was set to, but just being able to type in my usual mix of Dutch and English words the way I want. This is something I won't be able to live without anymore, I think, and I'm sure many more people will really enjoy this.[/font]
NOTES, PARTIALLY BY EVERNOTE
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[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Another new addition is the Notes app, made by Evernote (and syncing with your Evernote account). It's quite basic, but doesn't really need more. It can do regular text notes, you can attach audio fragments to it, you can draw 'doodles' and you can easily share notes. You do have to be careful, because only the notes you actually put in your "accountname" folder get synced with Evernote. And you can't just move a note to another account. It's a nice addition though, something that had indeed been missing from the Xperia's.[/font]
THE USUAL ICS IMPROVEMENTS
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Of course this isn't everything, but I've chosen not to show all standard ICS features to keep the review to a reasonable length. Everything else (aside the standard ICS camera app) is included as well, and everything runs very smoothly. Android Beam works fine, the new Calendar and Gmail widgets are useful additions. I was surprised to see the difference in speed was actually this obvious.[/font]
IT KEEPS GETTING BETTER
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Sony seems to be really determined to succeed this time around. With every new software update they add a ton of features, and unlike other manufacturers they actually provide already released devices with tons of new features too. If you compare the capabilities of the Xperia Arc in february 2011 with what you can do with it now, you'll notice how huge the difference is. The first months it was lacking any sort of proper timer or stopwatch, the music application was horrible, there wasn't a way to take notes, the calendar was limited and hard to use, there was no smart dialing, no panorama photos, no DLNA - want me to go on? If you see how far Sony got right now, and what they managed to add again with one single updates only three months after the release of the phone you can't do anything but be impressed. Add the extreme openness to developers (unlockable bootloaders, extra sources, loaning/gifting devices for development, clear communication, ...) and you should realize they're not as bad as some people think they are.[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I hope Sony sticks with this strategy, and remains as committed to bringing updates to already released devices as they are now. It's working great so far and it could really help them get back to what they were in their 'golden years'.[/font]
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MY PERSONAL VERDICT
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I really like this update. It feels like I have a new phone that can do things no other phone can. And the best thing about that is that it's true. The Xperia S right now does things no other phone does. Sure, it doesn't have a (fake) Siri and still lacks some other things, but I personally prefer the things Sony did. They delivered a coherent OS, sticking to the ICS style guidelines, and improving on it. It's actually the only version of ICS I'd prefer over the standard ROM. Why? Because it doesn't detract anything from the core ICS experience, it only improves upon it. Nothing got worse, everything got better. Not perfect, but better. All is well.[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]If there are any questions about Sony's ICS update at all, please, feel free to ask![/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]- Ambroos[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Feel free to use any material/screenshot in this review, or just the complete review. You can post it on your own website, blog, whatever, as long as you don't modify anything and give credit to @AmbroosV, including the Twitter link.[/font]
Amazing review. Can I ask? Has timescape changed?
Sent from my LT15i using XDA
N1 OP.
I'd include Quadrant(negligible change btw), very popular bench and far superior to Antutu.
nice review... but one thing from your review (might have found other things, but i'm too sleepy right now):
Walkman (the music app), you said: The app itself didn't change all too much
i said: OMFG! it plays FLAC! the gingerbread's music app only plays my ringtone, while this so called Walkman app plays almost all my flac (almost because it doesnt play some of my flacs, dunno why)
and it plays beautifully.. i mean the looks, the sound is ok, but Neutron is still the king.
fantastic write up!
So quick, too! :good:
Really good review and objective,thanks ;-)
Now,i understand better the turn of this update,that is not officially dispo for me
you forgot to mention that there is no more slide to unlock + pattern
I like the slide to silent. Is there a way to change it back?
Nice one, pretty much sums up all the changes. Have you tried the backup app after a data wipe? I doubt I can flash away until I get a backup
Also I don't think you mentioned this little thing: the lockscreen music controls have an API now, so they work with many different apps, including Google Music.
Movies app looks so great but does not support .mkv file
Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 2
Hi! How is the Web browser on ics compared to gingerbread?
ShoeVan said:
Hi! How is the Web browser on ics compared to gingerbread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a huge way better, but really nice.
Better standby time i think.
5% on 9h
Skickat från min LT26i via Tapatalk 2
Few things I like about and don't like about!!
[My personnel opinion only]
1. Phone feels a bit hotter than GB.
2. Good to see Unicode fonts in it.
3. Disappointed with the timescape widget (was hoping to get the original one back with this update).
4. In S3 I saw it can support to display % of battery [Native], but I couldn't find such option here. (Ja, small thing )
5. Native Email application cannot sync [I'm using exchange] the folders within the inbox! which can only by sync when you go to that folder for manual sync.
6. Love the option to choose whether to lock the screen immediately when you press the power button.
7. Nice "Album" app, but bit leggy as I got tons of photos .
8. Backup & Restore software [I personally been missing since X10 upgraded to GB]
9. Cannot sort the pictures in different methods when you are ending up in the "Album" app via another application. This makes extremly tough to search for that photo you wanted.
10. Feels good with resizeable widget support and scrolling widget support.
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Exploring still .
LiveSquare said:
7. Nice "Album" app, but bit leggy as I got tons of photos .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know if you click the "sort" button in the top right of the Album App it shows you all your photos/videos in their folders ala the old gallery app
the album app has got a stupid bug/(feature??)
what Livesquare says:
"9. Cannot sort the pictures in different methods when you are ending up in the "Album" app via another application. This makes extremly tough to search for that photo you wanted. "
quickpic is still better this way :silly:
Wi-fi signal seems to be poorer than GB. Custom kernels might fix them but losing the Wi-fi signal quite easily
Sent from my wonderful Xperia S
Not being able to add more home screens really bugs me. Why can't they add such a simple feature?
Finally finished getting all of my logins back on the phone Now onto my quick points review:
1. Since when did Google auto-sync installed apps? I logged into the Market and it downloaded all of the apps I had installed! +10000000 to Google
2. Walkman music app is sleek One feature that I still desperately want is for Shuffle/Repeat to be an icon and not buried in the menu
3. Album is nice, but it's a bit slow cause I have tons of photos. I also wish you can exclude album arts from showing up >.>
4. The native email app doesn't support Push IMAP But it does look awesome
5. Sometimes I lag when exiting form an app to the home screen (by pressing Home button). All my widgets & shortcuts go blank and then pop themselves back on. Thinking of clearing the app cache to see if anything's amiss. Anyone else have this problem?
6. The PlayStation app is gone O_O Is the one by Sony in the market the same one? I installed it and it looked different...