I have finally managed to get an Android phone. A friend of mine had one sitting in his cupboard unused that he got as a free upgrade but stuck with his iPhone. It is a Samsung Galaxy GT-I5700, also known as a Spica or Portal depending on where you live.
Sadly it is running android 2.1 so rules out any possibility of playing with GLB on it :( & that is the latest update from Samsungs website.
Has anyone else here had this phone & managed to upgrade it to 2.2 or higher & if so how well did the upgrade go as in everything working as it should. I have unlocked & reflashed Sony Ericsson's in the past but have no idea of where to start on an Android phone.
Lee
you can try looking at http://www.samfirmware.com/
Managed to get a later version of android running on a galaxy S so I could run GLB apps thanks to that site. The internal sd also got screwed over because the OS I installed was buggy... but that was just really unlucky...
EDIT: Wait cancel that... doesn't look like they have anything for the I5700, but I could be wrong...
Quote from: Serpent on 2012-Mar-25
you can try looking at http://www.samfirmware.com/
Managed to get a later version of android running on a galaxy S so I could run GLB apps thanks to that site. The internal sd also got screwed over because the OS I installed was buggy... but that was just really unlucky...
EDIT: Wait cancel that... doesn't look like they have anything for the I5700, but I could be wrong...
Thanks for the link, sadly yes there is nothing of use for a I5700 on that site other than what I have already. I have worked out how to root my phone etc & that's straight forward, also found a 2.2 firmware but am unsure about it at the moment due to it being in an alpha state. Once I have read up more on the alpha & how simple it is to revert back to 2.1 if it sucks then I may give it a go.
Lee
According to XDA-deveolpers there is a version of 2.2 for it.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy/GT-I5700
Thanks, that is the one I downloaded yesterday 2.2.1 Alpha 9(Froyo). Am still trawling through the forum looking at bugs/problems before I commit to it :D
Lee
I hope you can update your device fuzzy. Its worth it for sure. I'm having so much fun playing with various Android versions and set ups on a cheap tablet I got. If you device doesn't work out try a cheap tablet (with well known good support for after-market mods). I'm finding it useful for GLBasic testing purposes since different Android versions will behave differently with my apps.
After reading the 24 pages pages of posts on the forum regarding the alpha firmware the problems posted are quite trivial to me, some camera issues for example which does not bother me seeing as a phone (esp this one) cannot compete against my digital SLR :D . So I have decided I will take the plunge later & give it a go.
Hopefully if my results are good from next months medical I can start looking for work & although getting back into my qualified field may not happen I am not bothered if I end up stacking shelves at a supermarket. Even with our glorious minimum wage here I will feel like I have won the lottery & we be able to buy stuff rather than rely on others chuck outs.
I will post after doing the "upgrade" to let you know if/how successful it went =D
Lee
Ok, phone successfully flashed to Android 2.2.2 & so far not had any problems & also managed not to brick my phone in the process :D
Some apps which failed to work from the market place under 2.1 now work including MRTAToads sprite speed tester, however I do have a slight problem with that. When I untick the DS box so it uses POLYVECTORS instead of sprites their colour changes, looks like the blue component just vanishes, retick the box & the colour is normal.
So if someone has posted a free app/game on the market which uses POLYVECTORS could you let me know the name of it so I can download & test that please. All other non-GLB games etc I have tried work without any graphical problems.
Lee
Here ya go ... 2 freebies to start you off ...
http://www.glbasic.com/forum/index.php?topic=6213.msg58393#msg58393
http://www.glbasic.com/forum/index.php?topic=6213.msg59515#msg59515
;)
Thanks Minion :), will go & download now & see what happens.
Lee
QuoteWhen I untick the DS box so it uses POLYVECTORS instead of sprites their colour changes, looks like the blue component just vanishes, retick the box & the colour is normal
That it is correct - its to show that POLYVECTORS are used...
Quote from: MrTAToad on 2012-Mar-27
QuoteWhen I untick the DS box so it uses POLYVECTORS instead of sprites their colour changes, looks like the blue component just vanishes, retick the box & the colour is normal
That it is correct - its to show that POLYVECTORS are used...
That makes sense now thank you.
Have tried both your games you linked Minion & had major problems. I only seem to see the left half of the screen, for example the "Minionsoft" splash screen at the start I only see "Mini" & the rest of the game is the same as in only the left side is visible, also if it hits around 3-4 FPS that's good going.
Non GLB games run fine as tried a 3D Tron lightcycles game with no problems, a Mah-jong game & another called Robo Defense. I know the phone is not a powerful one but getting only half a screen is strange.
Next request lol, I need a game to try that does not use polyvectors if possible so I can try to help narrow down what the problem is.
Lee
Just downloaded MrTAToads AtomZ demo & runs with out a problem
It sounds like the default resolution is set higher than what your device is capable of...
I would like to point out that, with my games, I make sure that the initial resolution is the lowest available and let the user change it if needed :enc:
Quote from: MrTAToad on 2012-Mar-27
It sounds like the default resolution is set higher than what your device is capable of...
I would like to point out that, with my games, I make sure that the initial resolution is the lowest available and let the user change it if needed :enc:
I think AtomZ started up in 320x240 or similar but had no problems changing it to 480x320 which is my phones resolution, the text in DDGUI was & is still a bit "blurry" while ingame text etc is perfectly clear.
Out of interest even though I have the non registered version of GLB can I compile Android apps with the same restrictions as say using 3D in windows in that it is a 5min demo?
Lee