Htc releasing firmware update for 30FPS cap... let's be more proactive!
So I ran across this great forum post over at xda developers forum, and they are encouraging us to send HTC emails to tell them to release the firmware update for the phone to fix the 30FPS cap which would be great because then there would be nothing holding developers back from making great apps for the phone, and the phone itself will run better too... According to the last update on the OP's post from June 14th, the update is coming but let's continue to write into HTC so they'll send it out asap!
And for those who don't want to click, here's the entire first post:
Update 6/14/10: Got a call from Dan Hesse's Office(CEO). Here's what happened:
1. Sprint has reached out to HTC about this issue. They acknowledge the problem and said they are working on a Firmware update that will address this. However, they could not give us an exact time frame.
2. The engineer at HTC encouraged us to go to HTC support and send emails to them about this issue so it gets more attention internally, and hopefully speed things up.
Also, I asked her to relay a message to Dan Hesse, Saying that this might not seem like a big deal at first, but it is in fact a huge one. Customers, especially those coming from an iPhone, expect their phones to "just work", and even if they don't notice it at first, that 30fps cap will get them frustrated at some point, and they will erroneously attribute it to developer, the phone or Sprint, hurting everyone in the process.
She also said Sprint wants this resolved, but they are pretty much at HTC's mercy right now.
Alright boys and girls, it's time to bother HTC! Visit HTC support here: HTC Mobile Phones - Customer Service - E-mail Support
and send your Email to them.
At this time I would advise against sending "template" emails because once they start receiving several of the same they can just filter them out. Remember, they are a huge company, they have the tools. Speak with your heart this time.
===================== Update 6/12/10: Check out the end of this post. Help us contact HTC and Sprint about this issue. Even if you don't own an Evo. HTC got away with it twice already. Let's at least make sure this issue is well known. Like a developer said:
Quote:
This is like buying a brand new corvette and finding out it has a governor on it limiting it to 100 horsepower. If a car manufacturer did this, there would be a class action lawsuit instantaneously. Don't be shy guys, let the world know how you feel! Update 6/11/10: I got a response from one of Sprint's executive team. He has asked the product team to investigate and will follow up with me afterwards. Will keep you guys posted.
HTC is capping all graphics , 2D AND 3D, at only 30fps max. This is having a negative impact on the responsiveness of the system in general, and for developers that rely on real time game development.
When I run the app, "Clock FPS" is trying to push 60fps but it is limited by the display at 30hz, only to show 30fps max.
This also explains why the evo 4g is consistently getting terrible graphics benchmark scores. The Nexus One, despite having the same processor and gpu, is not affected by this problem.
Is this ever going to be fixed?
============================================ CONTACT SPRINT AND HTC:
Darn, I thought there was new news. I still feel uneasy about the whole thing. I'd like HTC to make an official statement that they are working on the 30fps issue. From what I've read there was a lot of maybes.
I see this as a non issue. 30fps does not effect the video quality of this phone. Remember, this is a cell phone, not your home entertainment system.
I would recommend anyone that is having a problem with this to shop another phone and/or carrier. This is a phone, not a high definition video player, DVD or Blu-Ray player, but simply a top end telephone with multi-media capibiities.
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I see this as a non issue. 30fps does not effect the video quality of this phone. Remember, this is a cell phone, not your home entertainment system.
I would recommend anyone that is having a problem with this to shop another phone and/or carrier. This is a phone, not a high definition video player, DVD or Blu-Ray player, but simply a top end telephone with multi-media capibiities.
If you just wanted a cell phone, then you should have just bought a Jitterbug. But we all bought the phone for different reasons, but games being one of the advantages of having a phone like this. I know it's not a DS and it's not a dedicated gaming system, but I came from a 3GS and the games are a lot better performance-wise. If there is a cap on graphics, that affects the entire phone. Look at the Nexus One... same GPU and CPU and it performs waaay better than the EVO because it's not limited by anything. If you use a app, it's limited, if you play a video (yes I know it still looks just fine at 30fps) it's limited, and if you play games then it's still limited which is a big turn-off for developers who want to take advantage of the phone's capabilities.
You may not think it's a big deal because you just use the phone to make calls, but for all the other people who bought this as the highest spec phone in cell phone history, with all kinds of multimedia features like YouTube and even HDMI out... your arguement is moot. It's a multimedia device and is sold as such. If it wasn't, then like I said... it might as well be a Jitterbug if you bought this phone to just makes calls.
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I see this as a non issue. 30fps does not effect the video quality of this phone. Remember, this is a cell phone, not your home entertainment system.
I would recommend anyone that is having a problem with this to shop another phone and/or carrier. This is a phone, not a high definition video player, DVD or Blu-Ray player, but simply a top end telephone with multi-media capibiities.
Or...people can buy any other Android device out there and not have the issue.
The EVO has touch lag issues too, so its not just about videos/games. Also scrolling is not smooth.
Things are starting to sound promising compared to a week ago. However, hopefully HTC realizes they need to get this patch out sooner rather than later. Considering HTC doesn't have a perfect track record, there will be a lot of returns if things don't get fixed in the next couple of weeks. They can promise a fix all they want, but a lot of people won't believe it until they see it - and rightfully so. Considering Verizon is doing the Droid X press release in just a few days, a lot of people may ditch the Evo with these unresolved issues looming.
Last edited by AJ_EVO; June 21st, 2010 at 12:19 AM.
If you just wanted a cell phone, then you should have just bought a Jitterbug. But we all bought the phone for different reasons, but games being one of the advantages of having a phone like this. I know it's not a DS and it's not a dedicated gaming system, but I came from a 3GS and the games are a lot better performance-wise. If there is a cap on graphics, that affects the entire phone. Look at the Nexus One... same GPU and CPU and it performs waaay better than the EVO because it's not limited by anything. If you use a app, it's limited, if you play a video (yes I know it still looks just fine at 30fps) it's limited, and if you play games then it's still limited which is a big turn-off for developers who want to take advantage of the phone's capabilities.
You may not think it's a big deal because you just use the phone to make calls, but for all the other people who bought this as the highest spec phone in cell phone history, with all kinds of multimedia features like YouTube and even HDMI out... your arguement is moot. It's a multimedia device and is sold as such. If it wasn't, then like I said... it might as well be a Jitterbug if you bought this phone to just makes calls.
It's a big deal - for the minority.
That being said, HTC should have laid out those specs before hand. How many of you would have bought the EVO after reading it'd be capped at 30fps?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zombdroid
I see this as a non issue. 30fps does not effect the video quality of this phone. Remember, this is a cell phone, not your home entertainment system.
I would recommend anyone that is having a problem with this to shop another phone and/or carrier. This is a phone, not a high definition video player, DVD or Blu-Ray player, but simply a top end telephone with multi-media capibiities.
-- Yea , I don't notice it with normal use, but (you knew I was going to say that right) I was playing a Air Hockey game on my iTouch and then I played one on the EVO. OMG night and day, the EVO was terrible.
No I'm not a apple fanboy the only reason I have it is because my son got a new iTouch and gave me his old one. + 30 FPS would be nice for games.
Things are starting to sound promising compared to a week ago. However, hopefully HTC realizes they need to get this patch out sooner rather than later. Considering HTC doesn't have a perfect track record, there will be a lot of returns if things don't get fixed in the next couple of weeks. They can promise a fix all they want, but a lot of people won't believe it until they see it - and rightfully so. Considering Verizon is doing the Droid X press release in just a few days, a lot of people may ditch the Evo with these unresolved issues looming.
They did release the patch for the memory card issues very quickly, and if they're already working on a patch for this then I imagine it'll be out soon. Just write into them a quick message and tell them to fix the problem. The more people do it the better.
I just don't think I could be happy with the EVO knowing that the Droid X, Samsung Galaxy S, or even the Incredible are better performers.
That's a bad way to look at it. There will always be something better out already or something better looking out in horizon... it's just the nature of the business.
I'm not a big gamer... the 30fps is of no real interest to me. I am more concerned with getting HID bluetooth support (I know that's a google issue, not HTC)
Also want HDMI out support from more than just "Video" and "Gallery". I want HDMI-out for all screen functions. To me, that takes far more precedence than 30fps +
Well, I'm not concerned about the 30 FPS...BUT they could at least put a toggle on the cap so people who do want to run things faster (and presumably drain the battery faster) would have the option.
I recently purchased an HTC EVO for full price because of the excitement surrounding it as the best spec'd phone ever created, and I wasn't even due for a phone upgrade. It's become apparent that the phone is capped at 30 FPS and that its a limitation imposed not by the phones hardware, but by the lack of drivers that HTC neglected to include with the phone. The Nexus One and Incredible have similar specs and do not face this limitation.
I urge you to make this a HIGH priority to release a firmware update that can make my expensive piece of hardware perform as expected, because this is unacceptable. With the impending release of the DroidX and Samsung Galaxy, I may have to reconsider my acquisition if it becomes apparent that HTC is negligent with their product support.
I see this as a non issue. 30fps does not effect the video quality of this phone.
I've also posted that I don't have any problems due to the 30fps that I can recognize; however, if everyone starts complaining to HTC and somehow convinces them to remove the cap, I will not complain.
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I sent my email in as well. I'm not a big time gamer, but I recently viewed a video comparing the Hero and EVO and the Hero scrolling was smooth as butter while the EVO was herky jerky. Can the 30FPS cap cause my EVO to be outperformed by the Hero? Who knows? But if the cap is causing it, then HTC needs to address it fast.
That's a bad way to look at it. There will always be something better out already or something better looking out in horizon... it's just the nature of the business.
That idea would work in theory, except the Incredible is out NOW. Also the Samsung and Droid X wouldn't be better performers if the EVO didn't have this cap. Besides that the EVO isn't even that old, I expect newer phones to be better, but the EVO hasn't even passed 6months of age yet.
I've seen numerous posts over at XDA where commenters report that they have since gotten a follow up response from HTC and Sprint saying it is now a hardware cap (because of the HDMI port) and cannot be fixed.
"As for the FPS cap, all he did was confirm that it was a hardware limitation and that they are aware that it has an impact on gaming performance. However, he also stated that they have reports of the FPS rate causing sluggish screen responses (which in all honesty, it doesn't) but they haven't been able to replicate....He did't address as to whether or not any changes would be made or not.."
One commenter reports that in their reply from Sprint they were told that they mention the fps cap in the owners manual (though I haven't found it).
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I sent an email.
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I sent my email in as well. I'm not a big time gamer, but I recently viewed a video comparing the Hero and EVO and the Hero scrolling was smooth as butter while the EVO was herky jerky. Can the 30FPS cap cause my EVO to be outperformed by the Hero? Who knows? But if the cap is causing it, then HTC needs to address it fast.
That's what i've been saying... the 30fps cap affects the entire phone... not just games and movies. So just take 30 seconds and click on the link above and tell them you want it removed.
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This is not really the horizon, these are going to be its current competitors. The Incredible and N1 are already out, have similar internals yet the Evo is the poor performer. Go make your point about a WP7 phone or something that's coming out around Christmas or next year. Not about phones that area already out or coming out in the next month.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zamardii12
That's a bad way to look at it. There will always be something better out already or something better looking out in horizon... it's just the nature of the business.
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I recently purchased an HTC EVO 4G, and have been very pleased with the phone. I have been a long time consumer of HTC products, and knew that this was going to be a "no brainer" purchase. As I have been taking advantage of more of the features this phone offers, I noticed some dsplay issues. I went online and was dissapointed to find that it has its graphics capability capped at 30fps. I believe that the issues I am experiencing are related to this performance limitation. It seems that this is the only Android phone that you produce that has this limitation. I am hoping that this can be resolved in an update, but would appreciate a notifiaction of wether you plan on releasing a remedy or not. That will help me to decide wether I should keep my EVO 4G, or purchase something that better suits my needs.
Thank You
Andrew Horstman
I rather have 60fps than have an HDMI out port. How many people are using the HTML out?
Quote:
Originally Posted by teky
I've seen numerous posts over at XDA where commenters report that they have since gotten a follow up response from HTC and Sprint saying it is now a hardware cap (because of the HDMI port) and cannot be fixed.
I rather have 60fps than have an HDMI out port. How many people are using the HTML out?
I agree. Sounds like a bad feature trade-off to me. A good question to ask would be if the HDMI port as something Sprint specifically asked for or a random piece of bling HTC decided to add to see if there was any market interest.
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Emailed HTC at 4:14 pm EST regarding the HTC FPS cap of 30 FPS.
Received an email from HTC at 4:21 pm EST:
"Dear [TRIP],
Hello Juan, Thank you for taking the time to contact HTC America Technical Support via E-Mail with your request to remove the frames per second cap on the Sprint EVO 4G. The human eye can only process 29.97 frames per second, so HTC purposely capped the EVO 4Gs frames per second to 30. This has enabled the device to operate more effectively in other areas because of less processor usage in FPS."
First of all, not sure who Juan is. Not even my name. Looks like its a response email that is automatically generated by HTC. They must have forgot to remove "Juan" from the canned emial. *sigh*
Second of all, the human eye response is completely bogus. Ofcourse it can process an FPS num like 29.97, but does that mean technology should be capped as well? Love the HTC EVO, but we can clearly see the difference between lets say a 60FPS nexus one output than the 30 FPS that the EVO has.
Lastly, "more effectively in other areas" response is also bogus. What other areas? More processor devoted to the 4G antenna? Then why do you have a 1GHz processor in this device?
*Sigh* I love my Evo 4g. I haven't complained yet. But getting a canned response from HTC is disheartening to say the least. I doubt we are going to see an HTC patch fix anytime soon.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TRiP
Emailed HTC at 4:14 pm EST regarding the HTC FPS cap of 30 FPS.
Received an email from HTC at 4:21 pm EST:
"Dear [TRIP],
Hello Juan, Thank you for taking the time to contact HTC America Technical Support via E-Mail with your request to remove the frames per second cap on the Sprint EVO 4G. The human eye can only process 29.97 frames per second, so HTC purposely capped the EVO 4Gs frames per second to 30. This has enabled the device to operate more effectively in other areas because of less processor usage in FPS."
First of all, not sure who Juan is. Not even my name. Looks like its a response email that is automatically generated by HTC. They must have forgot to remove "Juan" from the canned emial. *sigh*
Second of all, the human eye response is completely bogus. Ofcourse it can process an FPS num like 29.97, but does that mean technology should be capped as well? Love the HTC EVO, but we can clearly see the difference between lets say a 60FPS nexus one output than the 30 FPS that the EVO has.
Lastly, "more effectively in other areas" response is also bogus. What other areas? More processor devoted to the 4G antenna? Then why do you have a 1GHz processor in this device?
*Sigh* I love my Evo 4g. I haven't complained yet. But getting a canned response from HTC is disheartening to say the least. I doubt we are going to see an HTC patch fix anytime soon.
Ha! I got the same
Dear Anthony,
Hello , Thank you for taking the time to contact HTC America Technical Support via E-Mail with your request to remove the frames per second cap on the Sprint EVO 4G. The human eye can only process 29.97 frames per second, so HTC purposely capped the EVO 4Gs frames per second to 30. This has enabled the device to operate more effectively in other areas because of less processor usage in FPS.
To send a reply to this message or let me know I have successfully answered your question log in to our ContactUs site using your email address and your ticket number 10USCW26ENA000454.
Sincerely,
Jesse
HTC
Guys I guess we have to live with the cap or take back your phones. I think Ill live with it since anything is better then the POS Diamond I had. Just saying. But it is a bogus response. Cuz we can actualy see the difference in performance. OH WELL.
Last edited by ARR22; June 21st, 2010 at 05:18 PM.
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Pushback from HTC
I've now received two replies to my request for forwarding on my feature request. Both responses from HTC only explain the reason for the cap despite my requests to forward the cap removal onto whomever makes the decision:
Response #1: "Hello Wade, Thank you for taking the time to contact HTC America Technical Support via E-Mail with your request to remove the frames per second cap on the Sprint EVO 4G. The human eye can only process 29.97 frames per second, so HTC purposely capped the EVO 4Gs frames per second to 30. This has enabled the device to operate more effectively in other areas because of less processor usage in FPS."
Response #2: "Thank you for your response. Since the human eye can only process 29.97 frames per second, there is no need to remove this cap. It has nothing to do with the performance of your device, nor will it affect it."
In all honesty, I don't think Dan Hesse cares about the 30fps limitation cap or the # of returned EVOs as long as the EVOs are flying out Sprint's shelves.
Assuming the DroidX won't be capped, it should be faster according to the specs.
I'm with everyone else when I say screw the HDMI capability and give me back 60fps. HTC must be smoking something to release a reply saying that the human eye cant tell the difference. I hate it when CSRs reply with lame excuses thinking that tech heads won't know what they're talking about.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wadester
Response #1: "Hello Wade, Thank you for taking the time to contact HTC America Technical Support via E-Mail with your request to remove the frames per second cap on the Sprint EVO 4G. The human eye can only process 29.97 frames per second, so HTC purposely capped the EVO 4Gs frames per second to 30. This has enabled the device to operate more effectively in other areas because of less processor usage in FPS."
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Better yet, why can the hero and Eris do it when their processors are much slower and could benefit from the extra processing power relieved by the capped fps, unlike the Evo which should have plenty of HP?
That was part of my response. The other is life doesn't move at 30fps. If we're watching something at 30fps our minds are filling in the blanks, like a faroujda processor scaling a 480p dvd to a 1080p display.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pb.lantonio
If the human eye can only register 29.97 frames per second, why did they put so much effort into making the droid incredible 60...?
Last edited by dbpaddler; June 22nd, 2010 at 05:31 PM.
Someone needs to point HTC to proper information. 29.7 FpS only is valid when you factor in motion blur, which movie/tv does. Computers and thus android do NOT typically. (I've seen no evidence that android does natively in it's OS, but video players DO).
Wow that Droid X is fast. You gotta figure that if the Evo cap is released and OS is upgraded to 2.2, the Evo will only be as fast as the Nexus One in that test. The Droid is already looking awesome and it is only running on 2.1. That OMAP cpu and gpu destroy the snapdragon.
When Sprint announced their first ever 4G handset at CTIA in March 2010, they dropped a bombshell on the mobile world. The HTC Evo 4G is a device that introduces a lot of firsts when compared to other North American handsets. This is the first Andr... Read More
Htc releasing firmware update for 30FPS cap... let's be more proactive!
Can the 30FPS cap cause my EVO to be outperformed by the Hero? Who knows? But if the cap is causing it, then HTC needs to address it fast.
