Phones/Phablets

Partition backup, unlocked Android phones, through Recovery.

Posted on by EskeRahn

Have you ever wanted to backup entire partitions of your Android phone?
Well it actually is quite easy for an unlocked device – Does NOT need to be rooted.
ADD: This requires the presence of a recovery boot option! E.g. from LineageOS

(The above image is ‘borrowed’ from here)

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Diagonal to width, simple fractions. Different aspect ratios

Posted on by EskeRahn

Obviously it is easy to calculate the diagonal of e.g. a sensor from the width and height with Pythagoras.
And a bit more tedious the other way round using the aspect ratio. [*]
But for common aspect ratios it is even simpler, 1+1/n fractions within less than 0.4%

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Cases/shells for the Pro1, DIY experiments

Posted on by EskeRahn

There are no official case(s) for the FxTec Pro1, so I have ordered over a score of cases/shells for various phones of dimensions close the keyboard part…

Ten have arrived, nine Nov 13., and here are the preliminary results, and a flip case fitted

Add Nov 21, two more have arrived, for Huawei P20  Pro and Note 7

Add Dec 28, two more have arrived a week ago, Flip cases for Huawei P20  Pro and they are better (the above image)

Add Jan 23, a little more on a P20 Pro flip, reverting the inner part

Add Apr 1, a better shell case with strengthened corners.

Add Aug 6, a protector for the top half – disabling edge interaction

(Will update if any of the remaining ones proves a better fit)

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A little post on keyboard phones, and the few alternatives available

Posted on by EskeRahn

Since BlackBerry-phones are now seeming to come to a complete end (not even licensed devices), the options for keyboard phones are even more sparse.

I guess no one reading the blog is unaware that I go for the Pro1.

But in all fairness there are alternatives.

2020-04-12 Updated with the Astroslide announced for spring 2021.

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BlackBerry Priv, Almost EIGHT days stamina, no tricks, though light usage.

Posted on by EskeRahn

I have previously contradicted the claim that the BB Priv has a poor stamina, but here an even longer run.

This is a collage to contain the almost eight days  (7d 20h), as the 3C Battery Monitor app can only show five days.

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BlackBerry Priv, 5¼days stamina, no tricks. Display on 50m/day

Posted on by EskeRahn

The BB Priv has a pretty nice stamina, if it is not too infested with bloat (mine is debloated).

Though some complains that a 3410 mAh battery is too small for a phablet with a 5.4″ QFHD display, it is enough for me.

5¼ days on 96% battery

This is with no trickery of radios off or similar. 4G, WiFi, NFC all turned on. GPS off though. ADD: BT off too.

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Android vs WPD bug. Wrong filesizes reported

Posted on by EskeRahn

I stumbled upon a strange bug in what Android can report to e.g. Windows trough the MTP/WPD interface.

Under some circumstances it reports a VERY wrong file size, but if you by WPD open a stream and copy the file until it sends no more bytes, it returns the correct full content.

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Get new/changed files from WPD-device, e.g. Android. Enhanced version of Christophe Geers’ PortableDevices

Posted on by EskeRahn

I stumbled upon this nice project by Christophe Geers.

And edited and enhanced it to a tool that works a bit like an advanced REPLACE /UPDATE  to a tree on the PC based on the name of the device and the drives it exposes.

It is an efficient way to get changed & new files from a device to a PC.

Update: Now supports Exclude also.

It works with a WPD connected device, e.g. an Android device USB-connected in MTP or PTP mode.

Here an example of some of the tree generated

Most backup tools does NOT allow you to do an incremental backup, but they DO allow you to deselect e.g. images. So use this tool to do the incremental backup of the huge WPD-exposed stuff like the images/videos/music, and let your backup tool do backups of all the rest – and in more finite time than a total backup of everything every time – thus making it a bliss to take backups much more often….

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Blackberry Priv – Bought one after all… (post is likely to become a sort of review)

Posted on by EskeRahn

blackberry-priv-overview[1]

Well I bought one after all, as it was available including customs and delivery for roughly $400 to Denmark.

The keys ARE tiny, and the device HUGE but I think I might end up finding it a lesser bad compromise that an Iphone+keyboard-case.

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Ios Calendar, Various odd observations.

Posted on by EskeRahn

A couple of strange observations on the calendar in Ios

  1. Search only works within +/- one year from current date
  2. It is not only year 10000 safe, you can actually scroll way beyond year 100000 🙂
  3. You can scroll back in time even to BC, though strange bugs appears much before that
  4. Moving an appointment has some (academic) issues in the date selector

IMG_1331

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Ios 9 – 9.3.1 (+A lot on battery info) First impressions: Same shit with added bugs…

Posted on by EskeRahn

clIos9

For me the most vital app is the Messaging app for handling SMS/MMS. There is a new version, but ALL the basic flaws are still there (see this) and new have been added, along with new features.

ADD: There are bug fix versions too, see below.

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Eye resolution test

Posted on by EskeRahn

I have made a simple test image to test the resolution of your eyes on a phone, phablet, tablet, laptop or PC!

The most common result is it is pointless to go beyond around 1/12000 of the viewing distance

Be SURE it is shown in the screens native resolution. e.g. 960 pixels should fill half a FullHD display. (or use one of the added ones with your screens resolution)

Be SURE that your browser or your windows settings doesn’t do any scaling/zooming/smoothing, i.e. one pixel in the image is one pixel on the display. (If in doubt take a magnifying glass -or macro camera- and look closely on the screen, it should be like the mock-up later in this post)

ResolutionTestText_qFHD

 

It is the point where the single line pair is indistinguishable from the double line we are looking for (that is: where it looks like one continuous thick line)

You will most likely find the finest resolution using the red or green figure.

Use any prescribed glasses that you normally would for the distance – we are testing resolution, not focusing ability.

NOTE: If you got a PenTile display, usually the green will do fine! Have a look at this on different subpixel arrangements. Several pixel arrangement exists out there, that could have similar issues…

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Digital camera sensor sizes – selling elastic bands by the metre

Posted on by EskeRahn

When a sensor is advertised/sold as 1/2.3″ most people would think that is the diagonal of the sensor. Well it is NOT! It might even vary drastically between manufacturers.

For historical reasons the diameter of a fictitious Vidicon tube with the same active area is what is advertised!!

ccdsizes[1]
From  http://www.dpreview.com/news/0210/02100402sensorsizes.asp

Unfortunately, it is even more confusing than that…

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Megapixel-craze and tiny sensors & lenses. Myths & Facts

Posted on by EskeRahn

This is an attempt to replace some of the common myths, urban legends and misunderstandings with some facts.
(last updated 20181103)

There are at least three physical issues and one biological that are interesting:

1) Rayleigh’s criterion and sensor width.

F * √N < W , (N number of sensors in Mpixels, W in mm, red light F numerical aperture)

AR-principles[1] Airy_disk_spacing_near_Rayleigh_criterion[1]

2) The eye’s real life resolution

Resolution beyond 1/12000 of viewing distance is pointless for most

3) Thermal noise.

Relative noise increases by 1/d, (+)almost √n and √T, (N number of sensors in Mpixels, d sensor diameter, T in kelvin, i.e. °C+273.15)

4) Effective pixel count

The effective pixel count falls with the amount of light, the less the pixel size the worse.

5) Stacking images

Stacking can compensate, but can not perform miracles.

 

6) Thickness of device versus sensor size

The angle of light to the sensor edges binds max sensor size to thickness.

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How to obtain good stamina on an Android phone

Posted on by EskeRahn

Summary

  1. This thread is general in nature, but based on my Xperia neo Pro.
  2. Xperia phones DO have good stamina if set up and used correctly
    I can get 4½ days of stamina WITH 3G+WiFi+Virus Scanner ON
  3. Set Brightness to 100%, and use widget “Brightness On/Off“,
    Use On in direct sunlight only.
  4. Set Screen time out to 30 sec.
  5. Use the app AdBlocker to block specific apps from data connection.
  6. Use the app WapDroid to only allow WiFi at specific geographical ‘points’. (By Cell-ID NOT gps)
  7. Have the phone at optimal position.
    Place on the desk not in the pocket while working.
  8. Exit apps if possible when you are finished.
  9. “Ads within Android apps found to consume 75% of the app’s power.”
  10. Avoid task-killers on the bloatware.
    (The repeated killing and resurrection eats a lot of battery)
  11. Avoid ‘clever’ battery-apps in the background doing more harm than good.
  12. Note that the percentages in Battery Use are based on estimates.
  13. Consider if you need background data traffic or not.
  14. The “Android System”-drainage bug!
  15. Finally I have a few tests , if the above did not do the trick.

screenshot_2012-03-21_0127

General

On general battery info and hints see this

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Central entry point on batteries

Posted on by EskeRahn

(at least this is my intention on how it should end and be used)

It should give info about batteries, how the phone uses them, and (hopefully) with some good hints to how to get the most out of each battery (Life and Stamina). Many of the hints go for other hardware with Li-Ion batteries as well. Say Laptops, Toothbrushes…..

 

This thread is originated from SonyEricssons Xperia phones.

s

Summary

On problems with weird drops and raises: Try “Johan’s Trick” below once

The currently best advice I can give for the usage pattern is

● Try to charge fully and deplete to about 40-50%bc

● Once in a while drain battery deep to get calibration right

● Keep phone on desk/in bag, avoid pockets, to keep cool.

● Leave phone idle while charging (e.g. while sleeping).

 

Note that the ‘remaining percentage’ you see is an ESTIMATE not a measurement!

LiIonGuessing
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