Sense 5 Toolbox - the best customizer for HTC Sense 5 based ROMs

If you haven't used it yet - you really should. I'm talking about the "Sense 5 Toolbox" application, made initially for Android Revolution HD. In the last few weeks the popularity of this application reached an unexpected level, and we believe it's a reason to celebrate.

More details about the Sense 5 Toolbox can be found on this blog, under "Sense 5 Toolbox" link on the right panel. Or, just click here.

Why Sense 5 Toolbox?

The application is an answer for 2 basic issues: many users wants to customize their OS as much as possible, but currently available solutions similar to Sense 5 Toolbox are very limited when it comes to the possibility of using them on most custom ROMs.

Android Revolution HD is known to be a "stock-looking" ROM, which was always the most important aspect for many users, who were looking for a stable and well known custom ROM. However, having a custom ROM with such popularity brought our attention to many users, who were looking for a stable custom ROM, but also with a little touch of customisation features - like displaying the battery percentage, or being able to re-order or re-design some part of the UI. This leads to two different approaches:

1. having a custom ROM full of many more or less advanced features coded into the framework, which always ends up with all sort of issues, bugs, waiting a long time for a new ROM version based on freshly released official OS update etc; or
2. having a custom ROM like Android Revolution HD, close to stock with just a few changes under the hood to make Android users life easier, combined with a standalone application like Sense 5 Toolbox.

The result is what most users are looking for: stock looking by default, a stable and optimized custom ROM - but with the capability to change many things inside the OS.

With Android Revolution HD and Sense 5 Toolbox you have:

1. fast updates when a new OS is released/leaked,
2. a stable custom ROM,
3. the capability to customize your OS,
4. great performance because of the tweaks under the hood,
5. many features not available on the stock ROM.

The Sense 5 Toolbox is under continuous development. More and more features are coming with each new release and the "to do" list is quite large.

In the background, another project is still alive and under heavy development too. I'm referring to the "Revolution Toolbox" application, announced in this post few weeks ago. It's still being tested, however we are getting close to the first public beta. Just one little secret I can say out loud now - Revolution Toolbox and Sense 5 Toolbox will "connected" in a particular way. Can't say more for now, stay tuned!

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NFC vs. Bluetooth (and why Bluetooth is better)

NFC is by no means a new 2013 invention, despite what the recent influx in NFC enabled phones may lead you to believe.

History of NFC

In 1983, Radio Frequency Identification was patented. This the earliest form of NFC, and features in contactless credit cards. A drawback of RFID was that it did not support two-way communication, which makes it less secure than NFC. In 2003, NFC was approved as an ISO/IEC standard; in 2004 Nokia set up the NFC Forum (which can be found <here>). Designed to promote the uses of NFC and ensure that new devices were compliant, the website now has over 170 corporate members including mobile manufacturers, banks and mobile network providers.

Unveiled in 2007 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Nokia 6131 NFC was the worlds first fully integrated NFC mobile device. This led the way for more NFC enabled phones, with 100 million shipped in 2012. In 2013, this rose by 156% to a total of 400 million devices globally. It is estimated that by 2015, 53% of phones will be NFC-enabled.

History of Bluetooth

Bluetooth is an older technology than NFC as the name was adopted in 1998 - a full 5 years before NFC was approved. The Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest Group) was established in the same year to promote Bluetooth and gain corporate partners. The SIG was party to 400 members by the end of 1998, and by 2013 it has reached over 19,000 members, including high profile companies such as LG and Apple. The first mobile device to have Bluetooth was the Ericsson T36 in 2000, which allowed it to pair with the first headset which was also released that year. Now in 2013, over 20 million Bluetooth enabled devices are shipped per week, with the total number exceeding 2.5 billion. This means that Bluetooth is still much more widely used than NFC, although this gap is set to narrow substantially throughout the next 5 years. Bluetooth has gone through a number of advancements over the years and is currently at version 4.0, which is supported in Android 4.3. This is not new however, and has been around since the iPhone 4S. A detailed article on the inclusions of Bluetooth 4.0 will follow.

Security

In terms of security, both NFC and Bluetooth are fairly secure. Bluetooth has a range of 9.75 meters (or 32 feet), while NFC has a maximum range of 4cm. This means that NFC has the edge, due to the fact that a hacker would need to be right next to you for an attack to work, while Bluetooth has a longer working range. 

NFC doesn't come with built-in security measures, however the limited range offers great protection. NFC is also extremely sensitive to direction, and even a slight directional movement on the device will disrupt the signal. NFC is only active when it needs to be, meaning that even if you leave it on in your pocket, the NFC chip isn't actually functioning. This further increases security.

Unfortunately, NFC can be exploited in other ways. Take a smart tag in a magazine, programmed to open the webpage on your phone. A hacker can manipulate this and change the code to instead make it send premium text messages, costing you hundreds in a matter of minutes. The worst part of this is that you wouldn't even know until your monthly bill arrived. To avoid scams such as these, try to avoid using tags which aren't behind a barrier, as these are less easily accessible and harder to tamper with.

Another concern with NFC is privacy. When you pay for a product in-store, you are identified and your purchase information is stored. The shop then uses this information to send you advertisements based on products you may find desirable. The privacy concern is that shops can then sell this information to third parties, who may in return send unsolicited spam. 

Bluetooth implements an authentication mechanism based on the SAFER+ block cipher. This means that when two devices attempt to connect, they will both need to enter the same numeric PIN code for the transfer or connection to take place. This ensures that a malicious connection cannot take place without the victims knowledge and acceptance. Two devices can be 'paired' which means that they will no longer require entry of a code. This is useful for allowing a trusted device to connect easily, but can open security risks if a paired device is compromised.

Bluejacking is the process of sending a file to an unsuspecting victim, which is usually harmless (like rick rolling) but can occasionally be malicious such as the ability to take control of a device and call premium rate phonelines. A number of Bluetooth vulnerabilities have been found in its history, however most have since been patched. A major bug in 2007 meant that a hacker could open a remote root shell on any Mac running OS X 10.4. This shell could then modify the contents of the hard drive, and reveal sensitive documents. 

Ease of Use

NFC allows a fast and easy connection between two enabled devices. The lack of authentication makes a file transfer as simple as quick bump. While this opens a security hole, it means that NFC is very easy to use, and requires much less knowledge than Bluetooth. Once turned on, NFC will be automatically enabled when needed, and doesn't require any further setup. One advantage of this is that there is very minimal battery drain with NFC left on. Bluetooth can drain an excessive chunk of power even when powered off. Bluetooth requires the entry of a PIN code first, and has many settings to configure such as device name and pairings. This ultimately makes Bluetooth file transfer less intuitive than the simple bump needed with NFC, however it ensures that transfers are secure.

(Note: most file transfers initiated using NFC take place over Bluetooth - NFC has no capability to transfer data bigger than a few short instructions or a small amount such as a contact card).

Abilities

NFC transfers files at a maximum data transfer rate of 424 kbit/s, which is much slower than the theoretical 24 Mbit/s rate of Bluetooth 4.0. NFC is only suitable for small files, and Bluetooth shouldn't really be used for files over ~ 150mb. For large files, Wi-Fi Direct is recommended, which is a different matter entirely.

Bluetooth allows a connection to headsets and speakers: a feature which NFC doesn't support. This means that for people wishing to stream their music through their car speakers or headphones, Bluetooth is the only option. NFC simply lacks the range required and does not support audio streaming. Bluetooth is also used with smart watches, which display texts and other information directly on your wrist.

NFC can be used with tags. When the phone touches the tag it can activate a number of commands, which include opening an application on the phone, loading a webpage or even changing settings such as toggling Wi-Fi. This is useful as it means that 4G can be activated as you leave the house, and Wi-Fi can be turned back on when you enter, which can potentially save a lot of battery. In regards to battery life, NFC typically draws around 50mA of current when powered on. This is reduced by a couple of features baked into the Android OS: 

NFC polling is limited to 10Hz, meaning the transceiver will only looks for tags at certain intervals and not consistently, which helps battery life greatly. This polling is completely disabled when the screen is turned off, which means that when your device is in standby, so is NFC. When the screen is merely locked, polling ceases but card emulation doesn't, which allows apps such as Google wallet to function.

NFC will generally consume minimal amounts of battery, with the general consensus being around 0.5% a day with no use, which wouldn't be missed. Bluetooth drain is slightly more, perhaps around 4% per day, however this is also barely noticeable in real world use. 

Final words

In conclusion, I still feel that NFC has a long way to go before it will match Bluetooth, due to limited range and low file transfer speeds. It is easier to use than Bluetooth, however has limited use, only being useful for small file transfers. Bluetooth is great for streaming music to an external speaker, and for transferring files from a PC to Phone. Not many PCs have NFC, but all can be fitted with a Bluetooth dongle, and all Apple laptops have Bluetooth 4.0 inbuilt.

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Pixels and Pixellation

How many pixels do you need? This is a question many, many people ask and to be honest I think it's the wrong one. Let me give you a few numbers!

First of all, it's widely accepted that a monitor with more than 100 "dots per inch" or "pixels per inch" placed 18-24 inches from your face looks pretty good - with outstanding monitors at that distance having 130-170ppi. I'm also going to assume that the average monitor resolution is 1080p - that's 1920x1080 pixels in a 16:9 rectangle. This is actually quite generous but I've done that deliberately. Now when you're printing images on paper, it's generally accepted that 200ppi is "reasonably good" quality, and 300ppi is "excellent".

Full image - 2688x1520 (4 million pixels) displayed at 600 x 339

So - with a 4 million pixel image in a 16:9 arrangement, your image dimensions are going to be close to 2688x1520. If we divide that by 300ppi for printing we get a print size of 8.96" x 5.07". Call it 9" x 5" for round numbers and you're looking at an "Excellent" quality image bigger than most commercially bought prints which would be 6" x 4" or 7" x 5". Start blowing up from 9" x 5" and you're slowly going to start losing image quality. Pixellation will likely begin to occur at about 13" across. For displaying on a screen it's a completely different story: 1920 x 1080 pixels is about 2 million pixels altogether; and at the very best quality I've ever seen for myself (130ppi) that's a monitor size of 14.76" x 8.31" (about a 17" 16:9 monitor). So - if you display a 4 million pixel image on this monitor you're zoomed out so that half of the pixels in the image are never displayed. If you zoom in so that every pixel is displayed you can only see half of the image's area: but still at 130ppi you can't see individual pixels and the image quality is absolutely perfect. On my monitor at work, which is 22" 1680 x 1050 (90ppi) I begin to be able to resolve individual pixels with the naked eye when zoomed in to around 350% - where each image pixel is represented by 3.5 screen pixels on average.

So - let's use these as our ballpark figures; zoom in to 350% or print larger than 13" for individual pixels to appear on a 4 million pixel image.

The original image, cropped to 600 x 339 pixels and displayed at full size. Note the complete lack of pixellation - although there is a certain fuzziness to the detail.

Now, let's look at how the vast majority of mobile phone users use the photos they take. Please don't think of yourself or your friends here; think of the millions of people buying smartphones and how THEY use their pics. Look at Facebook, Flickr, Tumblr, Twitter, etc. That's right - MOST people - the vast majority - use the photos the way they come out. They don't edit, they don't crop, they don't zoom, they don't do any more than perhaps a bit of red-eye removal. And how are those images distributed in the main? They are very rarely displayed at their full size (in fact Facebook almost never even holds the pictures at full size but "processes" them in a way which removes massive amounts of detail and image quality to save storage space). Most places (Facebook included) allow you to choose a range of sizes to upload at, to optimise data traffic and storage space use.

The original image, cropped down to 198 x 146 pixels, and displayed at 600 x 339 to keep the playing field level with the other images. Note the fuzziness; and you can start to see individual pixels. This is now less than 9% of the original image, AND it's blown up to four times actual size.

So - the image you see on the screen is usually displayed to you at 600-1000 pixels across - far less than the original photo. At this resolution, a photo taken at 13 million pixels and a photo taken at 2 million pixels will look EXACTLY THE SAME. There is simply no way to see the original detail because making the picture that size has destroyed it - and if both are now the same width with the same scene depicted the remaining detail in the picture is also the same.

Now - there are a minority of smartphone camera users who shout "but I crop, zoom, edit my images - 4 million pixels is not enough!". I don't want to make fun of those people but - if you take a photograph so poorly that the image you want from the original picture is 30% or less of what you photographed, you're doing it wrongly. Take the photograph you want in the first place rather than taking a wider scene and then cropping it down to a postage stamp. Move closer to the subject and frame it properly. If you can't move close enough that the subject is easily visible in the frame, then a smartphone camera is the wrong tool for that image. Use a camera with a nice big lens, optical zoom and a nice big sensor. Smartphone cameras were (and are) intended for quick opportunist snaps; although a skilled photographer can capture some outstanding images with even a 4 million pixel smartphone camera because they're a skilled photographer. For examples of what I mean, look up Colby Brown who uses smartphone cameras to take many of his unbeatable images. All are displayed on his site at 1140 pixels across and yet they look absolutely fantastic regardless of the camera he used. Another up-and-coming digital photographer is Craig Fish who also uses a 4MP smartphone camera for many of his shots.

To prove my point, here are links to one image which has been progressively halved in size until the smallest one is HALF A MILLION PIXELS. I challenge you to see the loss of quality without zooming in... until you get below the resolution of your monitor.

Original image: 4 million pixels

Half Size – 2 million pixels

Quarter size: 1 million pixels

One eighth size: half a million pixels

This article is also to be found on its author personal blog.

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Cameras in Phones - what do we really need?

An awful lot is being said about mobile phone cameras just lately; and we have HTC to thank for opening the conversation with the introduction of their HTC One which has half as many pixels at twice the size of anyone else's. Before we begin I'm going to get some ground rules. I won't use marketing terms; so I will talk about how many pixels a camera sensor has, and what size they are. You won't hear me talking about mega- or ultra- anything. Next is that I will show my meaning with diagrams - I'm a visual person and it helps me to explain. Please bear with me on this post; there's a lot to read but it's worth it at the end.

A digital camera uses a lens to focus an image onto an oblong of special material which has a number of sensors on it; each sensor is called a pixel and usually contains three sub-pixels; a red, a blue (actually two blues but don't worry about that) and a green one. Each of these sends a signal to the camera depending how much light of that colour is falling onto it. Bigger pixels produce a bigger signal for the same amount of light than smaller ones. When signals are small, the amount of noise (erroneous signal levels produced simply by electrons moving around) is a bigger percentage of the whole signal because noise is a constant backdrop. When the signals are bigger therefore, it's easier to pick out the signal, from the noise. More noise means that the signal produced by a smaller pixel is less accurate which means the final photo may not have exactly the same colour from each pixel receiving the same light.

Camera sensors line up their pixels in rows and columns - and the camera's rating is often quoted by counting them. For instance a 10MP camera contains ten million pixels (roughly). These are arranged in a rectangular grid with a side length ratio of 16:9 - so that's 4213 pixels across and 2370 pixels high. If you have a sensor which is 7mm across, each pixel is 7/4213=1.662 microns across (microns = thousandths of a millimetre).

In the real world, standard sensor sizes and pixel sizes exist; a 13 million pixel camera in a phone will have pixels about 1.1 microns across; this gives a sensor width of about 4.55mm (there are 4128 pixels across the image). In the HTC One, the best photos are 2688 pixels across, and the pixels are 2 microns across giving a sensor width of about 5.4mm.

Figure 1 - 4 million large pixels

Figure 2 - 8 million (smaller) pixels on same size sensor

Now we can start looking at construction. Take a look at Figure 1. This shows a camera with large pixels - the lens is focussing the image onto an area exactly the same size as the sensor. In Figure 2, we gave the camera more pixels (which really does give more detail in the image but at the expense of noise and grain - and also less sensitivity at low light levels). Of course; straight away you want more, BIGGER pixels. Figure 3 shows that if you make that happen, the image doesn't cover the whole sensor; the light falls on a little bit of it. So - in Figure 4 we move the sensor further away to ensure the image covers all the pixels.

Figure 3 - 8 million large pixels with no other changes

Figure 4 - Sensor moved away, but the lens size is unchanged.

However; the same amount of light, entering the lens, is now spread over a wider area: this dims the light hitting each individual pixel, which reduces the signal output and increases the noise. The only way to change this is to make the lens bigger - the aperture wider - so that more light gets in. This is shown finally in Figure 5.

Figure 5 - all required changes incorporated.

So - how far back do we have to move the lens? Simple trig shows us the answer. Imagine the "field of view" of the lens is about 60° (not unreasonable): the light coming in from the left and right cross over in the centre of the lens and make a triangle with the sensor as the base... an equilateral triangle is formed with all angles at 60° and all sides the same length (let's call it 5.4mm to stick with the HTC One's sensor size). So the lens must be 2.7mm away from the sensor. If we now make the sensor an 8MP one (3800x2140 pixels) that gives a width of 7.6mm - the lens still has a viewing angle of 60° so that means the sensor has to be 3.8mm away from the lens. Obviously I have used 60° as the lens viewing angle because it makes the angles, sines and side lengths easy to calculate - the numbers are probably quite different in real life but you get the idea: to get double the megapixels you have to move the sensor further from the lens, which means you need a bigger lens to gather the light needed to adequately illuminate it. Lenses very rapidly increase in price with size - a lens 4mm across instead of 2mm might cost three or four times as much. (BTW - the large circular opening on the back of the phone is NOT the lens; the lens is the tiny dark speck in the centre of it).

In practical terms for a smartphone? This means that, to get an 8 million pixel camera, with pixels 2 microns across, your phone would need to be about 16-18mm thick (at least at the camera's location); and the phone would cost upwards of US$1000 - possibly even more - JUST because of the lens.

This isn't something which can be corrected with better design, or better lenses; the only way to mitigate this increase in size and cost would be to make smaller pixels which had the properties of larger ones - and that my friends is the nirvana of a pixel scientist! The very best technology available is going into these phones - and with today's tech we're stuck with these limitations. In another article I'll talk about why I believe 4MP at 2 microns across is enough.

This article is also to be found on its author personal blog.

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HTC One variants [update]

Image taken from smart.com.ph

In my article here I was writing about HTC One GSM/LTE (UL) and GSM (U) versions. The question if ROM based on UL firmware can be flashed on U device is still valid, but now we have some more details about these variants.

It turns out, that UL version of HTC One (having both GSM & LTE radio) will be available mostly in the Europe and North America. Model ID (MID) of this version is PN0710000.

U version (GSM radio only) is going mostly to Asian markets. Model ID (MID) of this version is PN0711000. There is also WL variant, which will be the Sprint version of HTC One. I don't know MID number of this version yet.

In the past we had similar situation with slightly different MIDs numbers of the same device. HTC Sensation had PG5813000 and Sensation XE had PG5813001. Both devices can use the same custom ROMs. HTC Desire HD has PD9810000, while Telus variant had PD9814000 and HTC Inspire 4G (U.S. version of HTC Desire HD) had PD9812000. Again, one custom ROM can be flashed on all 3 devices.

There are also some more details that leads to the conclusion, that most probably users with HTC One U variant will be able to use their device with no issues after flashing custom ROM based on UL RUU. This is surely a very good news for both users and custom ROM developers. However, this will probably not enable LTE modem on U devices. So if you want to use LTE and your carrier supports this technology, make sure you will buy HTC One UL.

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Removable battery - do we really need it?

With every release of a new smartphone the same question is asked - will it have removable battery? If you believe that removable batteries are a "must have" nowadays, please keep reading. I hope you'll change your mind!

First of all - there is a solution. Battery banks seems to be a great alternative for removable batteries. You can check my review of HTC Battery Bank here. It works with every device equipped with micro-USB port. Now let's compare both solutions.

Capacity

Samsung Galaxy S3 has a removable battery with capacity of 2100mAh. Typical battery bank has a capacity of 6000mAh. This means, that Galaxy S3 can be charged almost 3 times with such battery bank! If you are going to use your smartphone heavily the whole day, only one backup battery might be not enough for you. With battery bank you can start your day with more then 8000mAh on board (battery inside device + battery bank).

Conclusion: 2300mAh vs. 6000mAh

Winner: battery bank

Size

Typical smartphone battery dimensions are around 6,3 x 5,0 x 0,5. Battery bank I was tested is of course bigger - 9,7 x 4,2 x 2,2. Is it really a disadvantage? I don't think so. It's small enough to be inserted into a pocket of your jeans or jacket. I think there are even smaller battery banks available on the market, so the size shouldn't be a problem here. Also, removable batteries are indeed smaller, but keep in mind their capacity is twice/triply lower.

Conclusion: 6,3 x 5,0 x 0,5 vs 9,7 x 4,2 x 2,2

Winner: removable battery

Charging

Battery bank can be charged regardless of device battery. It has its own USB cable and charging port, so you can charge both devices -  smartphone and battery bank at the same time. What about removable batteries? Well, if you don't have a removable battery charger (which costs extra money of course!) you will have to charge battery inside your device first, then switch batteries and charge the backup battery. The risk of braking battery cover latches is quite big, especially when it comes to plastic, which has its own lifetime and bending abilities. It seems that battery bank in this case is much more convenient and comfortable.

Conclusion: charging inside the device vs. independent charging

Winner: battery bank

Price

Original backup battery price is about $30. Yes, I know you can find non-original replacements for $10 as well, but let's compare only original parts. Typical battery bank costs is around $40 - $80 ($75 for HTC Battery Bank). However these prices vary from place to place and may be slightly different in your country, keep that in mind. Comparing 1:1 it's easy to see that external batteries are indeed cheaper. But to make the comparison fair, we need to establish the price/capacity relationship. 1mAh from 2300mAh backup battery ($30) is a cost of about $0,0130, while 1mAh from 6000mAh battery bank ($75) costs about $0,0125.

Conclusion: $0,0130 vs. $0,0125

Winner: battery bank

Design

When speaking about the design I mostly think about device design. However, battery banks looks definitely better and more aesthetic than regular removable batteries. Having a removable battery back cover doesn't allow uni-body construction, like HTC One has. Design is a matter of taste, but personally I prefer uni-body construction over having a plastic back cover. But again - it's a matter of taste, so no winner here.

Conclusion: plastic back cover vs. uni-body construction

Winner: draw

Usability

Practical approach is also important. Driving a car or sitting in a crowded bus might be a situation when your device is out of power. Now imagine you need to: 1) take out your battery backup, 2) turn off the device, 3) remove the back cover, 4) replace the battery, 5) close the back cover, 6) turn on the device, 7) hide your primary battery. So... 7 steps including the inevitability of turning off the device. With battery bank you just need to take it out and plug into the device. That's it. No need to turn on/off or disassemble your device. Keep in mind that battery bank doesn't work only as external battery, it is mainly a battery charger, so after some time you can hide it back.

Conclusion: 7 steps to change battery vs. take out and plug in

Winner: battery bank

Compatibility

External batteries are not compatible between devices. You can't use Samsung Galaxy Note II battery in Samsung Galaxy S3. You can't use HTC Sensation battery in HTC One S. If you buy backup battery for your particular device, you'll probably sell it together with the device or give it as free bonus one day. Battery bank is compatible with every device equipped with micro-USB port and can be your life-companion for years. However, you should be aware that battery bank might not be able to charge your tablet.

Conclusion: lack of compatibility with other devices vs. compatibility with all micro-USB smartphones

Winner: battery bank

Device lifetime (added 23-03-2013)
Due to many comments under this article I decided to agree with one point that was very often mentioned by users preferring removable battery. However, I think it needs some bigger explanation. It is a fact, that having non removable battery results in lack of possibility to exchange it for new one, once the old battery can't give your device enough power anymore. But is it really a problem? I took the warranty statements from my HTC One X+ and I found nothing about limited warranty for battery (like Samsung have - only 6 months). This means, that once battery is non removable, it doesn't have shorter warranty. So in my case battery is under 24-months warranty service. I think that is a positive aspect for the consumer, right? In some cases it might be also 12-months, but it depends on particular law regulations in each country.

Conclusion: removable battery with 6-months warranty vs. non-removable battery with 12/24-months warranty - both solutions have some advantages
Winner: draw

Possibility to reset the device (added 25-03-2013)
One more category added. Very often I hear that possibility to remove the battery is the only way to reset the device once it's not reacting anymore and system just hanged. This is not true. Every device have ability to reset the system using hardware keys. In most cases it's a combination of 3 buttons: power + volume up + volume down. You need to hold these buttons for about 5-20 seconds, depends on the device. Even if your device has a removable battery, it is better to use above combination to avoid breaking the plastic back cover latches.

Conclusion: you can reset your device no matter if it has removable battery or not

Winner: draw

So what's the score? Battery bank won in 5 comparisons, external battery in 1 comparison and there were also 3 draws. For me, personally, battery banks are better replacement for external batteries. It gives you bigger capacity for the same prize, extended usability and it looks better.

Do you have a different point of view or some experience with one of the approaches presented above? Please leave a comment below! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) down this post!

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HTC One - GSM or LTE?

HTC One is a new flagship device from HTC for 2013. With no doubts it is a great device with top hardware and innovating software. I will make a review of One soon, so expect a lot of pictures and in-depth comparison of HTC Sense 4+ and brand new HTC Sense 5.

For now some of you might be wondering about possible variants of this device. I made some research and I think I know how would this work. It is not officially confirmed, however I believe it is quite reliable and trustworthy.

Apart of all carriers branded models (also U.S. AT&T, U.S. Verizon and U.S. Sprint), there will be GSM  and GSM + LTE variants available for most countries. Respectively M7_U for GSM and M7_UL for LTE. Now the question is - when new update will come for U, will it come for UL the same day, or maybe week later? I can't answer that, but I hope both variants will be updated at the same time.

First off all, looking at HTC One software, it's easy to spot that both U and UL variants have the same code-name "m7". Model ID (MID) will be probably slightly different. LTE variant has PN0710000, while GSM should have something like PN0711000 or PN0710001. The beginning of the code will be the same for all One variants - PN07.

Now, let's assume we speak about European version (to avoid confusion with different CIDs or MIDs). It is said that Snapdragon 600 (HTC One SoC) has LTE modem already integrated (just like S4 and S4 Pro). So logically, there shouldn't be 2 different variants of S600 (with or without LTE). And so I believe that. This means that GSM variant of HTC One will have LTE modem as well, but most probably it will be disabled. Is it possible to disable LTE modem? Sure. The fact that specific SoC has LTE modem doesn't mean it's activated.

Will it be possible to activate LTE radio in GSM model? I'm not sure yet, but I think it would. How? You'll need S-OFF device, that's obvious. Since both GSM and LTE models will have the same hardware, having S-OFF you should be able to flash M7_UL software (RUU.exe). Of course you'll have to modify your Model ID (MID) in fastboot before (fastboot oem writemid PN0710000). Is there a risk to totally brick your device? Yes! So don't try it before it is confirmed to be working.

To find any official confirmation of my research I visited Qualcomm site and went to the specification page of new Snapdragons 200, 400, 600 and 800 chipsets. Here is the picture of S600 features:

As you can see, LTE modem is indeed integrated, and so will be present in GSM models as well. Here I repeat again - it will be disabled on GSM units and it won't be possible to switch it on/off in settings just like that. Enabling LTE on such units will be either not possible at all, or it will be possible by flashing M7_UL RUU to S-OFF device. Why this does not apply to HTC One X and its LTE brother, HTC One XL? Because One X is based on quad-core nVidia Tegra 3, while One XL is powered by dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4. Yes, both are running different SoCs, because Tegra 3 doesn't have LTE modem integrated.

How to recognize if HTC One is GSM or LTE version? Looking back at some HTC devices like HTC One SV (C525u) you could noticed "4G LTE" text on the back cover. I wouldn't expect similar text this time, because the back case is not removable.

Do you already own LTE version of HTC One? Consider flashing my custom ROM from this site.

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) down this post!

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More cores, more power and still no effective cooling system

I think we really have a problem here. Watching the world of technology, there is a clear tendency to equip mobile devices with more and more power. Looking at the specifications of fleshly unveiled Nvidia Tegra 4 (72 custom Nvidia GeForce GPU cores, new quad-core variant of ARM's Cortex-A15 CPU) I can say I'm already pretty amazed. But this enthusiasm might be suppressed very soon!

Where is the issue? You might say we've already been there few years ago, when multi-cores CPUs were gaining more and more attention from non-professional desktops/notebooks users. Marketing did a great job then. Nobody cared that most of consumers wouldn't be able to use the power of multi-cores. Nobody told them, that powerful CPU in pair with 1 GB of RAM memory and 5.400 RPM hard drive will be a waste of money and power. But it's not the point here.

What matters is the method of heat extraction. Air or water cooling systems are very advanced these days and can be very effective when it comes to PC. So if you really want to use 4 cores CPU for MS Word Editing or Internet browsing on your PC, there is nobody stopping you, apart of your own pocket. But what about mobile phones, tablets or so popular these days ultrabooks? Cooling systems on those devices are really bad. And what makes it even worse, there is no revolution coming. At least not for mobile phones or tablets.

Most of new ultrabooks (equipped with powerful CPUs and dedicated GPU) suffers from so called "throttling", caused by too much heat generated by the CPU and GPU when under heavy load together. Extra thin constructions are not effective when it comes to cooling, because the size of cooling heaps and fans needs to be reduced to minimum. Of course there is some room for improvements. For example, in  new MacBook Pro you can find two fans and quite smart arrangement of cooling pipes. Notebooks/ultrabooks designers surely have more options and more space than mobile phones designers. So I believe this might get better in time.

What's the situation when it comes to mobile phones? As I mentioned before, I think it's really bad. First of all, you can't put any fan inside your phone. The space inside is so limited, so forget about advanced system of micro cooling pipes. So what is the current solution? For example, idea of 5th companion core presented by Nvidia in Tegra 3. When device is in idle state, 5th core is taking care of low level tasks, running at very low frequency. Yes, this is quite smart. Tegra 4 will have the same mechanism. Another example - smart governors. When you turn your screen off, you CPU frequency will be limited to let's say 340 MHz. When turning screen on, it will go back to let's say 1,7 GHz. Nice, huh?

So... wait a minute!

It seems that from one hand we are buying super powerful devices, and from the other hand there are plenty of methods to limit this power. People are happy these days when they can use their super phone for more then 16 hours without charging. They do everything to achieve that - they are limiting GPU power, CPU power, turning off capacitive buttons lights or changing screen backlight to minimum (and they can barely see what's written on the screen). So take a moment, sit on the chair and count - how many times have you actually used the power of your device? Do you really need 4 cores and 2GB of RAM for Gmail, Chrome or Andry Birds? I don't think so. You might say you are playing heavy 3D games. Okay - how long can you play Need For Speed on your device in the bus? I'm pretty sure your device will be discharged after less then 1 hour. So, you might say you can always play it at home, with a device connected to the charger. Personally, when sitting home I prefer playing Need For Speed on PC or notebook.

What's the point in having 4 cores CPU, 2GB RAM and 72 custom Nvidia GeForce GPU cores if you can't use it? In idle this will be limited to 1 hidden core running something like 70 MHz. When using the phone for daily tasks (photos, internet, mail, calling) it will use about 20% of the potential power. When playing games it might use the full power for some period of time, then will be down-clocked because of generated heat. Is it comfortable to hold a device in your hand that have a temperature of 59 °C? I don't think so...

Of course there is a matter of reducing the size of the chipsets. Newer production processes mean lower power consumption. But this wont help.

So is it a right and good direction, when a companies are making more and more powerful hardware, trying to figure out better and more effective way to limit this power at the same time? It's like putting in and out. And all for the money from customers.

Do you have any questions or want to share some opinion? Please leave a comment below! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) down this post!

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Welcome!

This is the first post on my new blog - http://android-revolution-hd.blogspot.com.

I want to post here some reviews of devices I own, some mobile news etc. Some information concerning my ROMs as well. Basically I don't know yet what form will this blog have, but I'm sure it's worth to give a shot this way of communicating with Android fans. This surely wont be personal blog :)

Also please keep in mind that androidrevolutionhd.blogspot.com has nothing to do with Android Revolution HD on xda-developers.com.

You can find my blog at android-revolution-hd.blogspot.com.

I don't know the author of that blog and I surely didn't allow him taking well known name of custom ROMs - Android Revolution HD. Even if Android Revolution HD is not an officially registered mark, it's not cool to build blog fame based on someone else good reputation.

See you around!

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