CM9 Alpha for HP Touchpad...

[Ig]

Flashed alpha2. Works pretty nice. Youtube is working in HD, in app and in browser with flash (though flash screws up the aspect ratio when fullscreen). I can't get hw video in mx player though. I read that only certain video/audio codec combos were working, so that may be my issue.

alpha2 mods (the ones I'm using)
Battery Icons
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1504820

Status/combined bar hide toggle (for old apps that don't use ICS hide bar api like 'Perfect Viewer')
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/15924-no...ar-in-cm9/page__st__90__p__503030#entry503030
(if you use this, get Button Savior so you can have back/menu/home keys)

Modded bootanimation binary - Better quality boot animations, no more crap dithering. Not specifically built for alpha2, but it works fine. Not all that useful, since who spends a lot of time booting
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1461867

I asked the folks in #cyanogenmod if I should spoof my version and they said "No." I'm going to do it.

Where is build.prop located?

[edit]
Here's what I was told:


I guess apps like Netflix will stop working if I change build.prop

Flashable zip for chrome build.prop fix.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1516998

The build.id change was merged in the cm git repo for the touchpad, so it should be fine to use.

 

[ChronoReverse]

Try Dice Player or BS Player for better HW decoding support.

It's too bad, MX player has true fullscreen and a better interface imo

 

[ViRGE]

I asked the folks in #cyanogenmod if I should spoof my version and they said "No." I'm going to do it.

Where is build.prop located?

[edit]
Here's what I was told:


I guess apps like Netflix will stop working if I change build.prop

No one at XDA has reported any problems; if Netflix did stop working, I'd expect someone would have noticed it given how many people have been upgrading to Alpha 2 just for Netflix.

 

[CZroe]

Used the flash able zip to fix Chrome support. Youtube doesn't work. Tries to play mobile version instead of Flash or launching the app but video appears in the page but goes black and leaves only the audio. It stays black in full-screen too.

 

[WelshBloke]

Because no tablet should eat power that fast when you're just leaving it there and checking a bit of email left and right? I know the iPad 2 is the gold standard in terms of battery life, but as SunnyD pointed out his Nook Color can go 3 weeks without a charge.

You're right I *am* next to a power source a lot, but the I shouldn't have to worry about charging all the time. My gf leaves her iPad wherever its convenient. Sometimes its by the bed. Sometimes its in front of the TV. Sometimes its in the kitchen after she looked up a recipe, or by the dinner table. The point is, we rarely worry about charging our iPads.

I'm not asking for the TouchPad to beat the iPad. I'm asking for it to get somewhere close. Now I recognize that this is an Alpha product, but this has been an issue since CM7 first landed, and maybe many Android users are used to things being buggy and dysfunctional in ROMs, but I honestly would like a stable ROM.

The more I play with these devices, the more I realize there's a lot of work to be done. Take my SGS2 for example. It's almost out for 9 months and CM7 has market issues still and will never be usable until ICS drops, but ICS is in a complete state of chaos on this phone. Basically it's modded stock ROMs or bust on this phone.

I feel like so many people make excuses like "Oh I was using my touchpad heavily anyway" so they excuse the battery issue, but in reality it IS an issue. The TouchPad might do fine streaming video and playing video, but its standby battery is just horrendous. It probably uses 5x more battery than it should be using. The fact that webOS does so much better means that there's room for improvement on Android. I do hope the awesome developers find a way someday though.

There's issues with the touch pad certainly but 3 day standby time isn't one of them. Things like the crappy aspect ratio and no sdslot are way bigger issues.(edit :and the wifi dropping a lot)

Fact is it didn't come with an sdslot or a decent AR so I can't complain. It didn't come with android either so its hard to complain about that too.

 

[CZroe]

I was using it last night w/CM9 when the screen suddenly went blank and it wouldn't respond to buttons, as if the battery level was inaccurate and it ran completely out of juice. I retrieved a 1A charger from the car and plugged it in only to see it come back on right where I left off with plenty of charge left (was locked; not off). WTF?! Related to "sleep of death?" I never pressed the lock button.

 

[Aikouka]

There's issues with the touch pad certainly but 3 day standby time isn't one of them. Things like the crappy aspect ratio and no sdslot are way bigger issues.(edit :and the wifi dropping a lot)

Fact is it didn't come with an sdslot or a decent AR so I can't complain. It didn't come with android either so its hard to complain about that too.

Those are qualms that you have with the TouchPad's physical design. He's complaining about the current state of power management in the software. Those are really two completely different things since hardware is pretty static where as software can be modified.

 

[WelshBloke]

Those are qualms that you have with the TouchPad's physical design. He's complaining about the current state of power management in the software. Those are really two completely different things since hardware is pretty static where as software can be modified.

Touchpad never shipped with Android any more than it came with a sdCard.

Yes the software can be hacked around but you have to accept it as is, it was never sold that way or meant to be that way.

I modded a blutooth unit onto a laptop of mine and then struggled to find a good driver for it. Was that a problem with the original hardware?

 

[Aikouka]

Touchpad never shipped with Android any more than it came with a sdCard.

Yes the software can be hacked around but you have to accept it as is, it was never sold that way or meant to be that way.

I modded a blutooth unit onto a laptop of mine and then struggled to find a good driver for it. Was that a problem with the original hardware?

I think you're misunderstanding the point.

The point is that to "combat" his complaint about the current Android battery life, you bring up what you consider to be hardware deficiencies. You knew this when you bought it and they will never change. Some hacker at XDA isn't going to magically poof a SD card slot onto your TouchPad!

The whole argument over power management is pretty silly anyway. It started with an observation that someone made, then someone else made the trollish comment, "Ho ho... you aren't near a power plug?" It's a completely valid observation that power management isn't what it could be in this release; however we all know it's an alpha.

 

[Ichinisan]

I was using it last night w/CM7 when the screen suddenly went blank and it wouldn't respond to buttons, as if the battery level was inaccurate and it ran completely out of juice. I retrieved a 1A charger from the car and plugged it in only to see it come back on right where I left off with plenty of charge left (was locked; not off). WTF?! Related to "sleep of death?" I never pressed the lock button.

You mean "CM9," right?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Touchpad never shipped with Android any more than it came with a sdCard.

Yes the software can be hacked around but you have to accept it as is, it was never sold that way or meant to be that way.

I modded a blutooth unit onto a laptop of mine and then struggled to find a good driver for it. Was that a problem with the original hardware?

Ok, the point is things like no SD Card can never be changed as already pointed out. You live with the shitty product.

But we *know* how long a tablet SHOULD be able to standby. We can reference the iPad 1/2, modified Android tablets like the Nook Color, etc. The standby time is all excellent. Even webOS on the TouchPad shows excellent battery life (relative to CM7/9). Now I know CM7/9 is all Alpha, and without any disrespect to the wonderful devs who have been slaving their butts off, the battery life is still an issue though. Like I said, we know how good tablets can be, and even the touchpad hardware is capable of doing it in webOS. Thus, to me the standby battery life of Android is unacceptable. I do hope the devs get there one day, but for you to say it's not an issue when every other freaking tablet out there does it, means you're dismissing it.

Now I can understand if its not a BIG issue to you because you charge everyday, but I like to look at industry standards and say that if something is out of line, then yes, its perhaps an issue. That's what I'm using for this battery issue. The camera is certainly another issue in CM9, but it's not a big one for me personally simply because I would rather use my iPad 2, iPod Touch, SGS2, Nexus S, MacBook Pro to skype than my TouchPad. Furthermore, front camera is the least of my concerns. However, for people that find it more of an issue, at least I won't dismiss their concerns. It's just my priorities don't focus on a front camera, but I'll recognize it as an issue because it *should* be working in a *properly* working version of any OS.

 

[ponyo]

if it's unacceptable to you, don't use it and wait til the final release. If it's still not fixed then, bitch to the CM team that you want your money back. Seriously whining about battery drain on free alpha build will get you zero sympathy.

 

[bearxor]

So what do you guys recommend for playing MKV's off a NAS?

Has anyone tried the SlingPlayer App before I drop $30 on it?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

if it's unacceptable to you, don't use it and wait til the final release. If it's still not fixed then, bitch to the CM team that you want your money back. Seriously whining about battery drain on free alpha build will get you zero sympathy.

I'm not saying it's a strike against the developers. I'm saying its a huge problem. I work with the devs on Rootzwiki and frequently submit bug reports and do a lot of thorough testing there. I have no problem with the work they're doing. We all know it takes time. I'm not whining about battery life nor am I demanding my money back. I'm continuing to work with the CM team with any issues. Sorry if you interpreted by observations as QQing about the TouchPad.

All I'm saying is that the battery issue is a huge issue still, as its something that puts the TouchPad (running CM) severely behind other tablets. Of course someone had to say something along the lines of "well why don't you just charge everyday? why would you go for more than a few days without a power source."

I'm merely saying that many tablets are used off the power source for days at a time and sit idle for days at a time. For the TouchPad to be used like a typical tablet, I think power is a huge requirement.

 

[ChronoReverse]

So what do you guys recommend for playing MKV's off a NAS?

Has anyone tried the SlingPlayer App before I drop $30 on it?

Try Dice Player (Ads version). If your NAS supports FTP or SMB then combine with ES File Explorer to open the files.

 

[randomlinh]

There's issues with the touch pad certainly but 3 day standby time isn't one of them. Things like the crappy aspect ratio and no sdslot are way bigger issues.(edit :and the wifi dropping a lot)

Fact is it didn't come with an sdslot or a decent AR so I can't complain. It didn't come with android either so its hard to complain about that too.

Heh, the aspect ratio is exactly why I love the touchpad. I can't stand 16:9 for tablets

 

[Bateluer]

Heh, the aspect ratio is exactly why I love the touchpad. I can't stand 16:9 for tablets

Any particular reason why?

16x9 landscape is better for movies because they're recorded that way. 16x9 portrait is better for reading books because there's less scrolling. 16x9 landscape is better for reading magazines for same reason.

 

[Ichinisan]

if it's unacceptable to you, don't use it and wait til the final release. If it's still not fixed then, bitch to the CM team that you want your money back. Seriously whining about battery drain on free alpha build will get you zero sympathy.

I hate this kind of response. He should never mention it so that people will try CM9 and not know what to expect? Just...stop it.

It's perfectly fine to mention areas where CM9 is still deficient on TouchPad.

 

[Ichinisan]

Any particular reason why?

16x9 landscape is better for movies because they're recorded that way. 16x9 portrait is better for reading books because there's less scrolling. 16x9 landscape is better for reading magazines for same reason.

If 9:16 was a good aspect for reading books, they'd make books that way.

They don't. It's not.

768x1024 is a much more universal-purpose resolution for a tablet. Every time I see a 16:9 tablet, I get the feeling they're just trying to be different from iPad.

I'm eagerly anticipating 1536x2048 with iPad 3.

 

[ChronoReverse]

16x9 portrait is better for reading books because there's less scrolling. 16x9 landscape is better for reading magazines for same reason.

No, not really. Comics and magazines are formatted closer to 3:4 so it's easier to read on a 3:4 screen.

For books, 9:16 ends up rather narrow and it's more comfortable with a wider 3:4 which is why both the Nook and Kindle have 3:4 screens

 

[ponyo]

I hate this kind of response. He should never mention it so that people will try CM9 and not know what to expect? Just...stop it.

It's perfectly fine to mention areas where CM9 is still deficient on TouchPad.

There's mentioning and then there's whining. No one said otherwise.

 

[Ichinisan]

There's mentioning and then there's whining. No one said otherwise.

Then there's whining about mentioning.

 

[ponyo]

Then there's whining about mentioning.

and there's whining about mentioning whining.

 

[randomlinh]

Any particular reason why?

16x9 landscape is better for movies because they're recorded that way. 16x9 portrait is better for reading books because there's less scrolling. 16x9 landscape is better for reading magazines for same reason.

I just watch the occasional youtube clip, so movies don't matter to me. So in landscape, 4:3 is just natural to hold. In portrait.. same reason. Even though you have more vertical space for less scrolling, it just feels very awkward in my hand.

This is less of a problem in a smaller ~7" tablet.

Regardless of all this, my real preference is for a tablet to support multiple users off the bat.

 

[bearxor]

Every time I see a 16:9 tablet, I get the feeling they're just trying to be different from iPad.

I don't think that's it, necessarily. I think all of the Android assets are formatted for 16:9 or 16:10 displays.