yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Xperia Play General] Clyzm:
The bad reviews should not be surprising at all. The Xperia Play is a phone for a pretty niche market even for handheld gaming. Android games are nothing to write home about in terms of quality (please don't mention Gameloft games... I think they're horrible for the most part).

The real boon of this phone has been emulators and the battery life. Coming from a Galaxy S where I had to make sure to not use the screen too often or it wouldn't make it through the day, the Play is amazing. Emulators speak for themselves. In my time commuting I've completed Chrono Trigger, Super Metroid, a few Mario games, and Zelda Minish Cap. Every single one of these is head and shoulders above every single Android title on the market right now.
[Xperia Play General] ncaissie:
You should check out anything Sony on IGN. Talk about biased.
[Xperia Play General] typikal82:
I have to agree with some comments on here, the phone is aimed at a pretty niche market and there are more powerful phones already out.

However, I can say that I played a good amount of Android games before and on the Xperia Play I can say you can actually play those games accurately. I don't know how people can struggle with on screen game pads for emulators or even regular games, I never bothered to download any emulators on my previous phone because I knew it wouldn't be enjoyable. The only game I ever completed was Angry Birds because of the basic controls, anything that needed accuracy was impossible.

Anyone that has seen me playing my phone always asks what phone it is. Even non-gaming coworkers are intrigued by it.
[Xperia Play General] hate_do:
This PLAY is awesome.. but unfortunately, i got a defective one.. Only can enjoy games with emu's, and can not update it to 2.3.3 firmware, also can not enjoy gameloft games or any other HD games as it would crash the android OS till the touch screen, power button, wifi, bluetooth, gamepad touch, sdcard not function if i play those games for too long. Have to remove battery to make PLAY works normal again.

Luckily, firmware 2.3.2 (UK version) still makes a bit friendship with my PLAY.. although the android OS crash after playing gameloft or hd games for too long, the touch screen would still work so that i could reboot my PLAY using quickboot app (thanks to deoxlar for recommending the app to solve my removing battery issue after the OS crash)
[Xperia Play General] FK1983:
To be honest I have not seen even one positive review about the Play, the reviewers seem far too concerned about the latest dual core devices even though the Play runs every current game and app the same and thats not even including the gamepad that defines the Play.

It's like none of the reviewers have ever played a game on a mobile device ever, amazing how bad some of those reviewers are, how they got jobs I will never know.

And yeah, the Play is by far the best gaming phone out there thanks to the game pad, no other phone comes close, as a phone it lacks a few features and the hardware may seem a bit dated compared to the very latest phones on the market but make no mistake, this is a fantastic mobile gaming device.

Just a shame SE totally failed at advertising and securing some "must have" games for the device.
[Xperia Play General] jimthev:
Reviews I've seen by gamers love the phone. Those that aren't gamers don't like it because it doesn't come with some word printed on the spec sheet. I've yet to see any performance problems so I'm personally glad it doesn't waste battery life for performance I can't see. But I gave up having to have the latest buzz word item right away many years ago.

In the same way that the handhelds haven't replaced my consoles and the same way the consoles haven't replace my computer, the Play isn't replacing the handelds. The Play certainly replaced my phone and I will never willingly go back to a phone without a game pad on it.

As for the comparisons to the handhelds, why would somebody think I'd carry my 3DS or PSP with me wherever I go like I do with my phone? Who are these people that do this or think this is reasonable?
[Xperia Play General] ammarcool12:
Screw that son of a hamburger(his name is else hamburger lol :P)

I am an LG optimus and HTC hd 7 user and im really happy with this phone
[Xperia Play General] Mozza2k11:
Sigh, most people who have reviewed this phone review it with the crappy pre-installed games. I have hardly played the pre-installed games to busy with emulators and now Samurai II: Vengeance (friggin awesome game :D).

I could care less if the hardware feels dated or is not "dual-core" since every game ive tried on the xplay has played extremely well (apart from some Fpse games) but once the xplay gets overclocked (or even if it is not overclocked) im guessing most games for the next two years the xplay will still be better than the touch screen alternatives.
[Xperia Play General] enerp8:
I guess the best reviews are the ones made from people who own the phone. And from what I read on this forum in other place, people are, generally, extremely satisfied. I have one, too and I'm happy as well!

These reviewers say "wait for PS Vita or buy a 3DS". That doesn't make much sense, since I won't carry on my pocket any of these devices, and my phone I carry everywhere I go.
[Xperia Play General] Logseman:
I mainly agree with Clyzm, the bad reviews come because it is a niche product. It destroys any other phone for emulating games, but non-gaming reviewers will not attend to that; it has surprisingly good rear camera and GPS performance, but a reviewer won't spend much time with those features, and the most important thing, its price is outrageous through official channels. In Spain it costs €650 out of contract (ca. $1000). Its brother, the Arc, costs €540; a Samsung Galaxy S II costs €580 and a HTC Sensation fetches €600 (and it's selling way less than the SGS II).

I researched quite a bit and found mine cheap (€400) on eBay Germany: your average consumer is less likely to research as much. If I had paid a thousand bucks for this phone, it'd be already back in the store. This phone does deliver a very good performance where it should: but it lacks a lot of oomph to command such high prices.
[Xperia Play General] robvp:
near $1k over there is crazy, you guys are getting the shaft in europe, you can get an unlocked one for around $550 on ebay, i got mine for around $100 on contract but it would have been around $600 if i got one without a contract
[Xperia Play General] TheBassman369:
It blows me away that the HTC Incredible S gets so many better reviews yet it's almost exactly the same minus the physical buttons.

Sent from my R800a
[Xperia Play General] Sess:
R800x thoughts

I bought My VZw Play for 450$ off contract from a vzw store. Despite the bad reviews, I knew what I was looking for. Euro owners are lucky that they can root the device and unlock the bootloader. The Play gets a bad rap from non technical types for obvious reasons, as they see numbers and think that adds up to the whole story. The techies who have poor opinions mostly have not used the device. The play is in no way future proof (even somewhat near future), but that's ok. As has been stated, it shines at emulation; every current emulator for the system flies. 90% of the PSX roms I play in fpse are flawless and full speed. Few, like Tobal 2 which are high res, lag. The controls work quite well in play optimized titles when done properly (surprising props to gameloft in all their recent titles except splinter cell). The majority of benchmarks are right around 65% of the market of current phones. We all know benchmarks don't directly relate to actual performance. Play owners and potentials needn't worry until we start seeing tegra only exclusives saturate the market. Most tegra only titles have since been built for non tegra chips. Most of the bummer moments seem to come from the misconception that PSP emulation, or PSP ported games would be available at launch. While I doubt emulation will be possible without Sony (we all know they could write an HLE emulator, and easily port first party titles), it doesn't mean we wont see more ports from 3rd party devs who want to cash in on the android demographic rise (thanks Hyperdevbox studio for bringing the excellent spectral souls and providing play controls). Sony could have helped us a bit by giving a gig of ram, the biggest weak point of the play, but those of you with root have probably already worked around that with comp cache and ROM optimization. The platform is still young, and as more and more devs provide games, the play's popularity is sure to supersede the obtuse reviews that preceded it.

Considering I average about 3-4 hours of play a day from my play, and use it to organize both of my work calendars/emails and personal calendar/emails, I think it was a solid investment.
[Xperia Play General] icebear8:
I have lots of down time at work and I was using my epic to play fpse and since I got this I can do my speed runs in resident evil 2 lol. Battery life is way better then my epic even as rooted. Idk why but this phone last me all day. I got my play for 49.99 at amazon
[Xperia Play General] speedyink:
I wouldn't trade the Play for any other phone out there.

Reviews are just someones opinion, whether it be educated or not.
[Xperia Play General] robvp:
if they release a new one when my contract is up ill probably renew for it
[Xperia Play General] peacekeeper05:
Because s.e. had the chance to make this phone powerful and good but they insisted on putting old hardwares on it when the other competitors are using dual core CPU already. the concept is really good but the phone is not future proof. 6 months from now i wonder if it could handle new games that will be released. Maybe it still can but not that great compared to multi cores.
[Xperia Play General] metcard:
Most reviews have been terrible for this phone, and I'm talking about the quality of the review.

One review said the screen was plastic, Engadget saying that the screen is woefully dim was ludicrous and I suspect the reviewer was blocking the light sensor. SE should remove the auto brightness lock though, it just gives reviewer trolls more things to whine about.

The only real let down for this phone is the lack of ram and rom. SE should have put at least 8gb rom on the se xplay and at least 700mb of ram.

The phone is quick, the ARC UI is nice, good speakers, great phone functionality, well built, excellent battery life... what the hell are reviewers reviewing? The actual hardware that is in their hands or spec sheets?
[Xperia Play General] ncaissie:
The screen has a shatter proof film on it. If you remove it the screen is very nice and it makes it more responsive. These people are just retarded and have now gaming knowledge. I really couldn’t care less what reviewers think. 9 times out of 10 they are wrong just like the weather man. Just like the bad reviews on the Green Lantern game. That game is a good game. It has God of War like play elements to it.
[Xperia Play General] dsswoosh:
And all the multi core phones cant game very well because you have to control it by crappy touchscreen.

Xperia Play 2 if it comes i believe will be amazing. They will be able to better all the weaknesses of this phone.

But i love this phone. Gaming is better than any other phone simply because of the controls.

Emulators own on it.
[Xperia Play General] rushless:
Barring a Sony financial implosion, the Play 2 with dual core, better display, more app storage and ram seems obvious. Maybe will even have internal media flash.

Sad thing is no way it would release until the PSP2 release window is way past clear. The Play 2 would probably steal the PSP2's thunder.

The Play is more a strategic proof of concept to set the way for the Play 2. JMO.
[Xperia Play General] Deoxlar:
Sony didn't really want to back the phone either... They said that if it was a full playstation phone.... And not a certified one... It would only carry the name sony and not Ericsson.....
[Xperia Play General] ncaissie:
Where did you read or hear that?
[Xperia Play General] ravoyd36:
I don't understand the comparisons. The hardware on the phone can handle all the games thrown at it. It doesn't matter if some phone is more powerful, that phone can't play ps games
[Xperia Play General] yohandesilva1:
for gaming its just the best phone out there. Websites just blame Sony for what ever they do:rolleyes:. thats normally because of there prices:p. Premium stuff is pricey and only a few can own it thats the reason its called Sony:cool::cool: not Samsung or lg;). Sony did marvels with psp Im sure they will do the same with this when S1 and S2 (Sony play station tabs)comes out.
[Defy General] dtevegas:
Hi,

my near new Defy (< 1 month old) fails to poweron sometimes.

I get the Android! in the triangle symbol - only fix is to pull the battery and start again - which always seems to work.

Was running stock Telstra AU 2.1 upd 1 but have just upgraded to 2.2.2 - unfortunately happened the next day!

Any ideas? Don't want a custom rom just yet in case it's a hardware fault and i have to send back
[Defy General] JackSparrow17:
When u see android logo with triangle press Volume up + Volume down together and than wipe data and Cache and flash SBF of ur choice through RDS....
[Android Apps and Games] XsMagical:
Google talk with video and voice from gingerbread 2.3.4

I only tested on the HTC EVO 4g but i been told it works on other devices, Give it a try and let me know.

NOTE: In Sense roms Camera is sideways on recipients side

Reboot to recovery

Always create a backup of your current setup before trying out mods or themes.

Flash the attached gtalk file

Wipe dalvik

Wipe cache

Reboot

Google Voice is working

Google Talk Video is working

Note: Tiamat 4.0 gave me FC's

Test it out and let me know

Confirmed working on the following roms

EVO-Deck

█VirusROM GengerSense ReV™ █ ◄●|2 MAY|B3|●► █ [Gingerbread]●[2.3.3]●[Sense 2.1] █

Cm 7.0.2.1 with savagezen 2.0.0 kernal

SalvageMod, nightly 24

Some Sense Roms

Thanks to the people that tested on other roms, I may be new to this site but not new to the game. If anyone has any input that may help with this on other roms not posted here feel free to PM me

DOWNLOAD

Dont forget to say thanks!
[Android Apps and Games] galaxyfitankit:
Bro.can you provide new link....
[Android Apps and Games] Lijop:
new link pls
[Captivate Android Development] Kaik541:
CyanogenMod is a free, community built, aftermarket firmware distribution of Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), which is designed to increase performance and reliability over stock Android for your device.

This version is a release candidate, but you will find it stable for everyday use.

#include <std_disclaimer.h>
/*
* Your warranty is now void.
*
* I am not responsible for bricked devices, dead SD cards,
* thermonuclear war, or you getting fired because the alarm app failed. Please
* do some research if you have any concerns about features included in this ROM
* before flashing it! YOU are choosing to make these modifications, and if
* you point the finger at me for messing up your device, I will laugh at you.
*/

CyanogenMod is based on the Android Open Source Project with extra contributions from many people within the Android community. It can be used without any need to have any Google application installed. Linked below is a package that has come from another Android project that restore the Google parts. CyanogenMod does still include various hardware-specific code, which is also slowly being open-sourced anyway.

All the source code for CyanogenMod is available in the CyanogenMod Github repo. And if you would like to contribute to CyanogenMod, please visit out Gerrit Code Review. You can also view the Changelog for a full list of changes & features.

Instructions:

First time flashing CyanogenMod 7 to the Samsung Captivate, or coming from another ROM?

Root the device and install ClockworkMod Recovery. Instructions are available here.

Perform a NANDroid backup of your current ROM.

Format the system, data & cache partitions of your device.

Perform a factory reset.

Flash CyanogenMod.

Optional: Install the Google Apps addon package

Upgrading from earlier version of CyanogenMod 7?

Perform a NANDroid backup of your current ROM.

Flash CyanogenMod (your Google Apps will be backed up & restored automatically).

Issues?

Experience issues? Please provide the following info:

If the device was hard reboot, please provide the file "/proc/last_kmsg".

If the device was soft reboot or is "bootlooping", please run a logcat and provide the full output.

Please use Pastebin when possible.

Download Links:

Official posthttp://forum.cyanogenmod.com/topic/...-the-samsung-captivate-v710-rc1-26-june-2011/​

CyanogenMod:

Latest Version: update-cm-7.1.0-RC1-Captivate-signed.zip

Download: Link

Mirror: Link

MD5sum: 0c32e6e5a37078e95154349fb69f3bb6
​

Google Apps addon:

Version: gapps-gb-20110613

Mirror: Link

Mirror: Link
​

The CyanogenMod team would like to thank everyone involved in helping with testing, coding, debugging & documenting! Enjoy!
[Captivate Android Development] ninjuh:
I'm confused.
[Captivate Android Development] oblivianz:
Interesting, gonna try this one out.
[Captivate Android Development] EnemyOfGlaDOS:
Sweet sauce! :D
[Captivate Android Development] kitkitfok:
Can I flash it with ATT GB Bootloader?
[Captivate Android Development] doctahjeph:
Me too. How is this different from the other CM7 thread?
[Captivate Android Development] doctahjeph:
nevermind I think I just answered my own question. another question though? are the nightlies pre RC1? that is how it is shown with the changelog with 40 being before RC1. So 41 will be post RC1?
[Captivate Android Development] Jemack:
This one is RC1
[Captivate Android Development] Kaik541:
the difference between RC and nightlies is RC is considered (mostly) stable and users are allowed to post issues/bugs to the issue tracker. nightlies will never be allowed to post, but even RC1 users can. nightlies will continue to be built between stable releases (there will continue being nightlies after RC1/before RC2... and after RC2/before RC3--if there is an RC3--until the final stable build is released) until there is no longer a use for nightlies.
[Captivate Android Development] doctahjeph:
yeah I figured it out.
[Captivate Android Development] doctahjeph:
word that is what I figured. Thanks!!
[Captivate Android Development] Jdgp42:
What about CM7 issues like battery drain?
[Captivate Android Development] zmore:
Nightly #33 was on my captivate yesterday, #40 this morning, RC7.1.0 tonight, and by tomorrow, ... back to the nightlies. Stable for an instant. :)

(All these rom flashes... are like tears... in the rain...)
[Captivate Android Development] ls377:
And I thought I was going to sleep. Silly me ;)

Sent from my Captivate
[Captivate Android Development] arffer:
OP says to flash from ClockworkMod Recovery: Does it matter what version?

OP does not mention what boot loaders should be used. Are the new AT&T I897 GB loaders okay to use?

Thanks!
[Captivate Android Development] killer23d:
I was on the nightlies and was using Froyo Bootloaders. I think you can use One-Click to go back to Elclair and see how it goes.
[Captivate Android Development] malbolgias:
Wow great work, this is a mile stone

For our device.

Thanks
[Captivate Android Development] Kaik541:
wiki instructions clearly say to flash from Froyo, and those are the instructions to use
[Captivate Android Development] ou812bkewl:
don't forget to backup /efs folder everyone. this fried my efs folder on the first install and i had to recover it from backup. working great now though with no /efs issues.

Edit: Not saying the rom did it or anything. Sometimes efs just gets rubbed the wrong way during a rom install and jacks up your imei.
[Captivate Android Development] Born2BeMild:
Flashing from a froyo-based rom okay?
[Captivate Android Development] melbourne408:
I would make sure the right date was selected then the nightly installed, no need to wipe/factory reset after a nightly, to just make sure make sure your right area is under the date and time.
[Captivate Android Development] whitesox311:
Anyone figure out why the browser causes a cascade of force closes all of a sudden lately? It timed perfectly with the new Google mobile page
[Captivate Android Development] hernan078:
maybe ur having the same problem i had, too many apps, try moving some to the sd card ;-)
[Captivate Android Development] rsx19:
guys what are the steps coming from miui?

when it says factory reset does that mean from the phone or odin flash since you cant really get back into android after formatting everything in CWM
[Captivate Android Development] Palmetto_X:
Fyi

Just wanted to let some of you know that have battery complaints. Mine was burning up pretty fast, so I deleted /data/system/batterystats.bin, reboot to recovery/ advanced/ wipe battery stats. Restart phone and charge back to 100, & repeat steps again if needed.

I am 4hrs 39 min on batt and still at 85%. Before I would already be at 50% or below.

Not my idea, just bringing it back out as a refresher.
[Captivate Android Development] melbourne408:
No odin. Format /system, data, datadata cache, install zip for CM7 then gapps, /wipe data factory reset, then boot up.
[Captivate Android Development] Tarima:
Aren't those two the same?
[Captivate Android Development] melbourne408:
lol, just use battery calibration, nice app - the hassle :)
[Captivate Android Development] rsx19:
hey how do i view my external sd card? i cant figure it out at all. its recognized in settings so i know its in here somewhere
[Captivate Android Development] EnemyOfGlaDOS:
Its located @ /emmc
[Captivate Android Development] Palmetto_X:
Could be.? Got it from here

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=10183875&postcount=4

Been using it since.
[Captivate Android Development] Mastamind89:
Had the same concern but now that I know, gonna install CM7 once my phone is finished charging, looking forward to it
[Captivate Android Development] Uncle Irish:
Anyone play homerun battle 3d? If so have you experienced choppy gameplay? Looking for a way to fix it. I've tried governor settings, oc, etc but can't get stable gameplay at all in that game, very choppy.
[Captivate Android Development] irajames1176:
In one of the previous nightlies I was on, I remember an option to keep the backlight on behind the soft keys below? Now I can't find it and the light goes off way to fast, if they took out the option or someone knows where it's at I would greatly appreciate it
[Captivate Android Development] Born2BeMild:
It was removed. Look at the kernels for CM7 in the development section. I am using the Platypus kernel and have the Backlight Notification on.
[Captivate Android Development] irajames1176:
That's to bad I really liked that feature it's hard to see the buttons at all sometimes even in decent daylight hopefully they bring it back. Thanks for the heads up and quick reply man def appreciate it
[Captivate Android Development] nkrick:
It was removed because there is a bug that occasionally causes the buttons to stop working until you turn your screen off and back on. A missing feature can be allowed in a stable release (which is what they are working towards). A bug in a feature will prevent a stable release from occurring. If they figure out the cause of the bug and fix it, the LED notifications will return to the stock kernel.
[Captivate Android Development] malbolgias:
Im trying to flash cm7, I flashed back to stock with heimdall, then flashed speedmod kernel rebooted and now my phone has been stuck on the galaxys boot screen for over 30 minutes. How long should this take? Is this normal?

Thanks
[Captivate Android Development] EnemyOfGlaDOS:
The reboot should not take 30 minutes.. more like a few minutes, maybe 5 or 6.. 10 at most. (Although usually only takes a couple)
[Captivate Android Development] malbolgias:
Yeah guessed so, rebooted the phone into recovery and flashed cm7. Worked perfectly now.
[Captivate Android Development] mkatforum:
Does 7.1 RC still have the issue with incorrect DTMF tones when using the in-call dial pad?

That was the sole reason I flashed another ROM but now am getting withdrawal symptoms!