Fabulous, JoTo! Thank you very much for the quick feedback, and yes, you can keep using the .1 version. In fact I plan to release a new version tonight that will likely be identical to the test version except possibly for a different version number (such as 1.26). Indeed I had not foreseen the initial overexposure. It is only through your accurate and specific feedback that I could quickly track down and fix the problem. Danke!
Peter
Just in case the overexposure "theory" would indeed hold up, I have temporarily added a test version 1.25.1 at the direct JAR file URL
http://www.seeingwithsound.com/The_vOICe.jar
that will only check if the initial view is perfectly black (and then fall into compatibility mode), and it will no longer be thrown off track by any overexposure.
Peter
Thanks JoTo. I'm checking the code, thinking of ways to explain your observed behaviour. Another way in which The vOICe can currently switch to the unwanted compatibility mode is when the initial view is totally overexposed, meaning perfectly white, before the automatic white balance of the camera kicks in. Any sighted N95 user who can tell what the very first preview image of for instance the built-in camera app tends to look like? If it is perfectly white then I understand the problem and can fix it. Otherwise I am still baffled. Initial overexposure could explain why you get The vOICe to run properly by covering the lens with your finger: that would prevent the initial overexposure, but it is also nearly impossible to create a perfectly black view by covering the lens with your finger, which is exactly what is needed to keep The vOICe from switching to the unwanted compatibility mode. If nothing else works then I will probably remove the automatic switch, but preferably I create something that works on as many phones as possible without user intervention, so I am eager to understand how the N95 falls into this "compatibility trap".
Vielen Dank!
Peter
Thank you for checking, JoTo, and of course also hecke!
The "old error" has to do with trying to support a few Nokia series 40 phones that cannot handle the new tricks of series 60 phones. Unfortunately, Nokia does not offer any methods to directly determine from software whether a phone is series 40 or series 60, so I check for a black view instead to judge which mode should be used. However, this workaround can lead to the wrong conclusion when the lens cover of a series 60 phone is closed, since that also gives a black view (short of some image sensor noise).
Intended usage was that you open the lens cover, next quit any built-in camera app that comes up automatically, and then start The vOICe. That should prevent that it lands in its compatibility mode. Therefore I do not quite understand how for you it seems to work just the other way around, requiring you to start with the shutter closed. Maybe the interaction with the built-in camera app is different on N95 such that The vOICe reads a black view and falls back into compatibility mode when the built-in camera app is active, I just don't know. These things are difficult to test and figure out without access to the physical device, and my old Nokia 6682 stubbornly refuses to fail on this issue. 
Danke!
Peter Meijer
Das Problem erscheint jetzt völlig gelöscht mit version 1.25, verfügbar via die URL Adresse
http://www.seeingwithsound.com/phone/The_vOICe.jar
Danke!
Peter Meijer
The vOICe for Mobile Camera Phone and PDA
http://www.seeingwithsound.com/midlet.htm
Dear JoTo,
Thank you for your kind words. Your description is most clarifying, and
matches my expectations about the artefacts caused by the firmware bugs.
The switching back and forth between the different views is a consequence
of the video capturing and display painting running asynchronously under
firmware control, which becomes noticeable now that the two are misaligned.
Your observation that the small high contrast view shows approximately
the top left part of the full camera view is also consistent with what
I'd expect. Actually my tunnel vision analogy was not entirely correct:
it is more like an unintended zoom effect as with a telescope, where you
get a higher acuity for distant items at the expense of the peripheral
view. The small view is by default a high contrast greyscale view. It is
positive (default) or negative depending on whether or not the negative
video mode was toggled by key "1".
A German or international version will probably come someday, but not
anytime soon, because of the maintenance drag of ensuring consistency
across languages while developing. For that reason I also do not offer
a Dutch version (my own native language).
I much appreciate your offer to help, and I will definitely remember.
Your current clarification was already most helpful in confirming the
expected side effects of the series 60 third edition firmware issues
that I was only recently made aware of.
Also thanks to hecke. I will update my documentation a bit, because
indeed one could not readily know the intended behaviour in advance.
For now we can only hope that Nokia fixes the series 60 third edition
problems for their various phones through some firmware upgrade, but
they rarely announce what they fix with what upgrades. For reasons
like these, and because it is not feasible to test each and every phone,
quality user feedback such as provided through this forum is extremely
valuable for developers. It is really appreciated.
Ich sollte mal besser Deutsch lernen, aber die Zeit fehlt mir leider...
Vielen dank!
Peter Meijer
Danke, hecke. If your N95 behaves properly, you should on the screen
see a view similar to
with two small square camera views on the screen: one small square
color view on the left and one small square high contrast greyscale
view on the right. This is how things work on older phones like the
Nokia 6600 and 6680.
However, chances are that The vOICe indeed runs on your Nokia N95,
but with the live color view covering most of your screen area.
This is the result of the series 60 third edition firmware bugs.
For blind users the effect is that not the full camera view is
sounded, but only a small slice (a bit like tunnel vision).
In case your N95 does show the proper screen display with the two
small square camera views, I would be very interested in the firmware
version of your phone (through keying *#0000#), such that I could
document what N95 firmware version fixes the video bugs.
Vielen dank!
Peter Meijer
ZitatOriginal geschrieben von hecke
Also bei meinem N95 funktioniert das Programm einwandfrei!
Ich weiß nur nicht, warum - Vielleicht liegt es am gepatchten ROM?:confused:
Hallo JoTo,
Entschuldige für mein Antwort in English. I can read German but writing it is
quite a stretch. I read your observations, and the fact that you got permission
requests on your N95 indicates that The vOICe had automatically switched back
to an older compatibility mode to suit Nokia series 40 phones. This switch should
normally not occur unless the lens cover was closed while starting The vOICe,
but you took care to avoid that. Anyway, you may have a little more luck with
an updated version 1.24 that is less likely to inadvertently switch over to
that compatibility mode. However, it does not and cannot compensate for the
Nokia series 60 third edition bugs that effectively limit your sound view to
a small part of the complete camera view - much like tunnel vision. For that
one has to wait for Nokia to fix their firmware bugs KIJ000619 and KIJ000525.
I do not know if or when Nokia will fix those bugs through new firmware.
The .jar installation file for the new version 1.24 of The vOICe is available
as a free download from the direct URL
http://www.seeingwithsound.com/phone/The_vOICe.jar
or you can download directly to your phone via the WML page
http://phone.seeingwithsound.com
I'm sorry for all the frustration that you have been through, but is becoming
next to impossible nowadays to take care of the increasing fragmentation in
Java support among camera phones as well as variations in security policies.
User feedback plays a key role in tracking down any phone dependent quirks.
Best regards,
Peter Meijer
