

Sony Ericsson to introduce Android 3.0 gaming platform & PSP Go-like smartphone - SandB0x
http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/11/exclusive-sony-ericsson-to-introduce-android-3-0-gaming-platfor/

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gregholland
This is good news. However, in order for Android to become a more viable and
successful gaming platform, google better make some DRASTIC changes to
underlying Dalvik VM in Android 3.0 or provide us developers with better C++
libraries to write games.

Currently, the Garbage Collector in Dalvik is a total piece of shit. When the
GC runs, your game can freeze for up to 100-200ms, totally kills the gaming
experience. What most developers who code in Java does is to use object pool
and manage memory manually, its a huge pain in the butt.

If you are a C++ developer using the NDK, you are in for a world of pain as
well, you can't control EGL context from C++, you can't receive events, can't
play/mix sound, can't access assets (easily). To do all of these, you are
stuck with using a JNI layer, which just decrease performance.

On top of that, current devices with similar hardware specs (1ghz snapdragon,
wvga screen) are all fill-rate limited to 30fps.

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jrockway
_What most developers who code in Java does is to use object pool and manage
memory manually, its a huge pain in the butt._

How is this different from C++? Oh yeah, instead of objects you get "big
blocks of RAM".

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abrahamsen
C++ has better tools for manual memory management (value types, smart
pointers, RAII).

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jrockway
Working around the garbage collector and using any C++ memory management
techniques are both ugly hacks.
(<http://yosefk.com/c++fqa/exceptions.html#fqa-17.4>)

Fortunately, there has been plenty of research on GCs that are fast enough for
games. So the solution is to use one of those for Android, now that people are
actually interested in writing games.

~~~
abrahamsen
Your link mention two C++ facilities for supporting manual memory management
that have no equivalents in Java, and thus (ignoring the smug sarcasm)
supports my original point.

A better GC was already mentioned by the OP as another option.

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jsz0
The tricky thing with Android is we have no way of knowing if Sony will be
using a fairly stock Android distribution or if they'll have an exclusive Sony
Android Market with games developed for the exclusive Sony Android Game SDK
that allows for quick porting of PSP games. (but never exists on anything
except a Sony Android handset) I guess we'll have to wait and see. Out of all
the handset makers Sony has the most proprietary Android distribution. (which
is why they're still stuck on 1.6)

~~~
Setsuna
What would be really nice is when Sony develops its own OS with XBOX-
WP7-Windows or iPhone-iPad-iTV like integration.

~~~
Setsuna
Not sure why I'm being downvoted for voicing my opinion, I wasn't criticizing
anyone.

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mcantelon
I hope D-pads become standard on smartphones. I loathe playing games using
virtual joypads.

~~~
fungi
<http://sites.google.com/site/gamegripper/>

mine is still in the mail, so cant really vouch for it.

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electromagnetic
I've had nothing but good from Sony Ericsson phones, and the PSP is a great
device. If anyone can turn Android around for gaming (who are already in the
phone market) it would be Sony as they're the only one with a true credibility
on games and an existing history of portable gaming.

I'd also prefer to be playing PSP-quality games rather than the many atrocious
pay-for-flash games you can play for free online . . . but not on an
iPhone/Pad because it doesn't support flash.

Edit: I remember saying this before, why can my PSP do flash but an iPad can't
. . . well I guess this is my answer, a phone in a PSP.

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SandB0x
I'm a fan of Sony Ericsson. I hope they can get back to their glory days.

My old W810i was the most dependable phone ever. I dropped that thing so many
times, one time out of a first floor window onto concrete. Barely a scratch. I
went on a five day trip without a charger. No problem. Gave it to one of my
friends and he's still using it years later.

It was there for me through thick and thin. Today's smartphones can't hold a
charge past dinner time.

(Edit: Mahmud, yeah I now remember the dodgy proprietary connector. That was a
terrible idea.)

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martey
I bought 3 W810is for myself and family. Ironically, I think many of the
things that made this phone successful were actually manufacturing limitations
of the time:

* rugged nature: Most of Sony Ericsson's newer phones have been thinner and have bigger screens. This makes it easier for them to break when dropped.

* long battery life: The W810i was not a smartphone. Its web browser sucked, and it only had EDGE. The lack of constant data transfer, combined with a small screen, undoubtedly helped battery life.

I am not saying that the W810i was not a good phone for its time, but rather
that it was not made to deal with the modern mobile landscape of real-time
status updates, push email, and monthly OTA firmware upgrades. SE phones are
falling down now because they have unusable user interfaces, are based on
obsolete software versions, or are just plain buggy. The W810i was stable, but
it also never needed to be upgraded.

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durin42
Agreed about battery life. If I turn off data syncing and don't use my Nexus
One as a smartphone, but rather just a normal phone (eschew browsing and so
forth other than a quick "where's my stop on this unfamiliar public transit?")
I get more than a full day of battery life. I've never tested it past a day
and a half, since that's when I invariably get wherever I was going but it
doesn't drop very quickly when it has less to do.

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hakl
The Pandora console (<http://open-pandora.org>) looked really awesome for a
while, but it was stuck in development hell for too long. Now its SoC looks
rather paltry compared to newer high-end phones.

I still kinda want one just for the gaming controls. If it's possible to
replace Android with a GNU/Linux distribution (like Meego), this could be a
replacement with no downsides. It's too bad that Nokia is unlikely to attempt
this after their N-Gage embarrassment.

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bitwize
Oh, great. It's from Sony. You know what _that_ means.

New features in Xperia Software Update 3.41:

Due to security concerns, and to ensure access to next generation gaming
content, the [Android OS] option in Xperia Software has been disabled. Users
who still wish to access [Android OS] can choose to stay with software 3.40,
but they will lose the capability to sign in to PSN or access games and movies
designed for 3.41 or above.

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Qz
Sounds good as long as Sony doesn't manage to screw it up (like they do with
most other things).

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jarin
They can't do any worse than the N-Gage

~~~
Qz
I'm skeptical of that.

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drivebyacct2
Ugh, how is this going to work with AOSP, CM, and DRM?

