Ringtone volume and latency

[Neil Jerram]

2010/1/2 William Kenworthy <billk at iinet.net.au>:
>
> Just a couple of thoughts - missing calls is rarely to do with volume
> and not hearing the ring (I have changed the standard tones though), and
> more to do with crashes.

Ah, OK, I didn't realise that.  (I don't yet get enough incoming
mobile calls to have a significant sample.)

Still, the CPU needed to decode Ogg (or another compressed audio
format) could be contributing to that.

> One of the most annoying is using tangogps
> full screen (or any other app full screen) and a call comes in the top
> screen can (not always) lose focus and you cant do anything except pull
> the battery (doesnt recognise finger/stylus).

In Debian I use auxlaunch for switching between windows.  This is
triggered by the AUX button and so is pretty reliable.  Could you use
that (or a similar approach) to solve this focus problem?

>  Another is hearing the
> other end, but they cant hear you - also happens randomly.

OK.  (I haven't experienced this one yet.)

> There is a lot going on when a call comes in so its not only audio
> player latency but enabling the audio path, setting up alsa, handling
> the call itself, starting the caller application, ...  And in amongst
> that it has to play the audio as well.  Currently this isnt too bad for
> me when I set ring only (no vibe) and use the debugfs hack.

With both ring and vibe there is a very obvious delay - I'd guess 1 or
2 seconds - between when the vibe starts and when the ringtone starts.

As you say, there's a lot going on when a call comes in - another
reason IMO for making the ringtone part as simple as possible at that
time.

Regards,
      Neil