FLAC on Android, Is it worth the trouble to listen to FLAC on a android phone? Options

[Chinch]

All I need is the size of this:

If that goes to an HTC phone, then I can actually contribute something useful to an otherwish cashed out discussion. Everyone hit on very valid and correct points. Now as far as that cable – most people would look at it and immediately answer that's a USB micro (male). It's actually a proprietary USB connector for HTC phones, which lemme look it up, I forgot what makes it different but I know this:

That slot that the shown cable plugs into is backwards compatible with USB Mini, as far as charging and normal data transfer are concerned. The proprietary cable only is of concern when outputting media to a TV, I believe, it's like mini HDMI sort of. Lemme get my facts straight, BRB!

• HTC manufactured Windows Mobile and Android-based devices which have a proprietary connector called HTC ExtUSB (Extended USB). ExtUSB combines mini-USB (with which it is backwards-compatible) with audio input as well as audio and video output in an 11-pin connector.
• HTC introduced devices (e.g. Flyer tablet, Droid Incredible, Amaze and Rezound Android phones) in 2010 featuring a 12-pin ExtMicro USB variant, backwards-compatible with Micro-USB.
  

Wow. I can't believe I actually remembered that from a while back. I've never even owned an HTC or Android! Only reason I know that those phones had proprietary connectors was a female friend of mine had this whack-ass cable that was frayed and stuff and I was gonna give her a replacement, but noticed that even though it looked exactly like a Micro USB cable, a Micro would not fit. Confused, I looked it up and found that info. Tried the "not very obvious at a glance" backwards-compatible standard Mini USB, and boom. Worked perfectly. That phone was an HTC Desire.

So first, I hope we're even talking about an HTC phone/cable… I'm halfway asleep and did not absorb the massive amount of information provided since my post yesterday evening… man. People out of the woodwork here. I hope I contributed an obscure, valuable bit of info instead of a completely useless one! Reference for those quotes: USB Proprietary Connectors (Wikipedia link)

Here is a close-up high res shot of the newer version (female/port, the one backwards-compatible with Micro USB):
Detailed view of HTC ExtMicro USB port on an HTC Amaze (Ruby) Android phone, illustrating the additional 7 pins recessed further back in the port. See below for a view of the connector which utilizes these extra pins.

And the one referenced in that description, high res (male/external connector):
Detailed view of HTC ExtMicro USB male plug of an HTC MHL-HDMI adapter (AC-M500). Illustrates additional 7 pins not existing in conventional MicroUSB. This view clearly shows the additional 7 pins that HTC incorporates into this 12-pin connector, which reach below and behind (further into the port) the conventional 5-pin Micro-USB connection (not seen in this view).


Hope that info helps here; but also if any moderators know of an area where this specific info might be of value to the readers there, could you either repost or cross-post or whatever way you guys would get this info over there. Please let me know if you do copy/move the information if you would, for my own reference. Thanks!

[Chinch]

I was also going to note, while we're talking about FLAC files and playing them here and there and compatibility, I know this is surely in the FAQ's/board docs somewhere, but just a short, quick reminder that if you want/need FLAC support outside of something like foobar2000 which natively handles it... say other Windows players… for the DirectShow codecs and other specific things (if you want to play OGG files in Quicktime, or if you want to play them in WMP, etc) – read this page very well (and the documentation page while you're there) – this should have all the open source libraries and codecs you need to work with FLAC/VORBIS files system-wide: Xiph.org - Downloads

Also, for a good education about the many different forms of Vorbis based codecs like SPEEX, THEORA and similar "siblings", just hit this link or just scroll to the very bottom of the main home page for a nice summary of all their codecs, technologies and utilities/downloads/tools: Xiph.org - Resources by Project

Nuh uh… wait up before you leave, don't overlook what I said about reading the documention: Xiph.org - Documentation

Hope that helps, too.

[saratoga]

On a basic player with a small power budget like a rockboxed Clip+, FLAC playback seems to be dragging down battery life from about 12 hours with a µSD card inserted to about 7..8 hours, apparently due to more frequent storage access only (decoding itself has been shown to be extremely easy on the processor, faster than any lossy codec).

No, those figures you're citing are probably for the Sandisk firmware. If you use FLAC, its battery life is about 7-8 hours, because its decoder is very slow. In rockbox, we use an optimized decoder, and so battery life is better then MP3 (about 17-18 hours).