Related
Hello everybody - I am currently testing the Universal with the 1.11.45 wwe system, and I would appreciate any confirmation that what I have found still exists in the 1.13 system, as I am not sure if I should upgrade immediately or not.
- “contact” soft key is on the RIGHT when desktop is visible, on the LEFT in phone application and in the MIDDLE button during the phone call. JUST Imagine somebody in the car who wants to make a phone call….. especially with MISSING REAL HARDWARE BUTTONS to assign the contacts to…
- In the phone application – last unanswered phone call is not displayed on the phone screen – you have to click HISTORY to see it – just the same problem in the car – somebody is calling you, you can not get out the device on time, so you press twice TINY TINY green button on the hinge, and …. You call the last number you have called before…not the last missed one
- Phone application just shuts itself of and Universal comes to the desktop screen WHY? (Imagine AGAIN in the car….)
- REALLY ugly TMobile skin, but the original blue skin has to low contrast….Again IN THE CAR…
- maybe I did not try hard enough but I can not obtain predictable results with the onscreen quickdial (not to mismatch with SPEED DIAL butto which Is OK, )– how to obtain the names starting with second or third letter from the key – I don’t know, and anyway it does not work if you have about 1500 contacts as I have
- check how SPEED DIAL it was done in the old handspring TREO phones – large buttons with the names on them in two columns rather than one list, with whole screen “pages” of 12 contacts each, for me much easier to use and navigate if you have more than one screen of numbers as in the car there is no chances for easy up and down navigation, what you have to do now with the numbered list.
- With all this missing hardware buttons what happened with the D-Pad functionality – in Blue Angel it was UP- History DOWN – speed dial … but in Universal nothing works ?????
- “during the call” screen with 6 soft buttons stays on when the phone call is already finished – again you do not find the soft buttons in the right places when you want to make next call
- When I got rid of the TM skin video call button is missing, I can not use UMTS yet as it is not available in Krakow, but it will be needed some time…
- No BT icon on the desktop – no chances for the quick verification of the proper connection between headset and the unit
- I have heard that voice dialing functionality does not work when the unit is closed (I always keep it open – screen on the top)
- There is no voice dialing available when the unit is protected by the password (but this is disputable)
Any other comments / bugs????
Some very valid points - I tell my buds that the JJ (in fact any XDA) is not good for driving frequent phone users. Here are a couple of fixes:
- Quickdial is pretty cool. Just type the name in T9 and matching entries will appear. Click the match you like then press dial. Forget trying this whilst driving tho...
- For speeddial, search this forum for VJDialer, and put links on your today screen any way you like using cLaunch of another plugin
- Search this forum for buzz's BT icon, AND his BT headset fix. However, you will then find that the BT issues are far deeper than you currently realise - the 2 devices just keep on losing connection.
- Voice dialing works perfectly as expected no matter how the phone is laid out - try it, it's DEFINITELY what u need for driving. Works well with BT too
Hi,
Recently upgraded to the M5000 from the M2000 (Blue Angel)
....and I am very pleased with the phone overall but have a couple of questions - I have searched but cant seem to locate the answers:
1. Does the battery drain more when constantly connected to UMTS?
2. Where has my "New" menu gone i.e New text, appointment etc?
3. When the clam shell is closed with the screen on the inside - what are the 3 holes on the top (Looks like a speaker)
4. Why doesn't Excel or Word retain the zoom settings when saving a document?
5. Writing a text using the phone pad the auto lookup for contact names doesnt work - which makes writing one handed texts impossible!
6. Finally, sometimes the icons contained within the settings>system panel disappear and only reappear after a soft reset - any idea why?
Thanks in advance.
Matt
first of all update the rom, and in regards to the 3 holes when the shell is closed, yes its a speaker, u can actually pick up a call without opening the shell, and those 3 holes are wot u put next to your ears to hear the other person.
Looking up contacts via the keyboard works fine wiv me, i got a orange aswell.
In regards to UMTS, i think it will only drain battery if your actually using it to transfer data, once idle, shouldn't have much impact. I personally think wifi uses more battery than UTMS.
If your worried about battery life, get a double capacity battery from ebay.
In regards to the "new" menu, i dont know which one ur refering to, the ORange customisation for the Today screen?
I let someone else answer the rest.
But if you havent, then do update the rom. I had my orange received last week, and it still shipped with the rom that came out last year. Update the rom.
1. Does the battery drain more when constantly connected to UMTS?
Don't know tbh.
2. Where has my "New" menu gone i.e New text, appointment etc?
WM5 removed it in favour of the 2 "Soft-keys" at the bottom of the screen. There is a hack to replace it - do a search on this forum.
3. When the clam shell is closed with the screen on the inside - what are the 3 holes on the top (Looks like a speaker)
4. Why doesn't Excel or Word retain the zoom settings when saving a document?
no idea.
5. Writing a text using the phone pad the auto lookup for contact names doesnt work - which makes writing one handed texts impossible!
Using Contacts to find the person first is faster.
6. Finally, sometimes the icons contained within the settings>system panel disappear and only reappear after a soft reset - any idea why?
:?: :?: :?:
The new menu is now integrated into the orange app that puts a taskbar on the left side of the screen..
You enable it from the today menu
Top icon is contacts inc new
3rd icon is new MMS/SMS etc
4th Icon down is Appts
Next one is MSASUNC, notes, file explorer Calculator and options
Bottom is WWW selections
Thanks for all your help!!
I am loathe to try any unofficial upgrades to ROM until Orange release a new one (I know there is a new Business one but nothing on the customer side).
I received my phone on Thursday 6th April 1900 GMT - and as at 1625 GMT on 12th April - am finally happy with my setup - so am not trashing it just yet!!
Thanks again
Matt
There are several little annoying things that prevent the Wizard from being a perfect phone for me. Here is a list of all the annoying things I don't like the solution to them, if I have found one. If people post more solutions that work I will update this list.
1. The unit is way too slow.
Solution:
Install Omapclock and omapclockplus.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=271012
Download that speedup.cab
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=261638
2. Insert Pauses in Dialing
Solution:
You can, in your contacts insert pauses in the number using a comma:
i.e. 123-4567 , 123
Does anyone know how to insert commas while dialing normally?
3. Lock the phone (to password screen) with a button combination (unsolved)
I mean lock as in the sense where you are at the enter code screen to unlock the phone to be able to use it. Normally I set mine to auto-lock after 15 mins, but what if I want to lock it right away?
I think I have done this by accident, as I pushed some buttons accidentally, and come back a few minutes later to find the device locked at the password screen.
4. Answering Machine (unsolved)
Some software to answer incoming calls and record a voice message. Though, this seems impossible due to what I read in this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=277314
"Due to a hardware limitation of the Wizard, WM5 does not have access to the incoming GSM Voicestream. WHat this means is that you cannot use a software answering machine on the HTC Wizard."
5. Windows Media player key mapping
Windows Media player works fine for me, as I use Windows Media player 11 on the desktop to create perfect playlists that are all converted and copied automagically on the device, Ipod style. I just select my playlist and go. The only problem, as most of you are aware it the inability to retain button mappings when the player is not on screen, and also the ability to only map the directional keypad.
Solution:
Use Pocket Player. It can successfully emulate the look, feel and functionality of Windows Media player, while adding all the missing features like the button mappings, crossfading, visualizations, equalizer. It even prevents the device from locking (to password screen) when you are playing a song.
5a. Windows Media player key mapping Headset button (unsolved)
Use the headset button to skip to next song and perhaps turn off the screen too.
6. Wifi while connected to USB
I want to have Skype logged in and running on my Wizard but still have it plugged in charging from my computer, as the wifi + skype drains battery like mad. The problem is that when I connect via USB, the wifi disconnects and reroutes from the computer. Skype, for some reason, cannot connect this way.
Solution:
In Activesync 4.5 go to File>Connection Settings>Allow wireless connection on device when connected to the desktop.
A Workaround: Install a USB mass storage driver such as Softick Cardexport
http://www.softick.com/pocket-pc/cardexport2/
or wm5torage
http://www.modaco.com/WM5torage-t238545.html
and set it to USB drive mode when you connect
7. Repeating Notification upon missed call or SMS
I currently use PhoneAlarm and it does the job.
8. Assign SMS tones to different people (unsolved)
How is this possible?
9. Simple Task Management (worked around)
I want to be able to access the control panels running programs list. Also, I want to kill all programs but WITH an exception list. I also don't want to have to install a whole other task manager with any more features than that.
Current workaround: Pin a shortcut in your start menu to the task manager
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=276385
10. SMS chat
The Treo has a great feature in while all chats to and from one person are organized into a sort of "chat box" in a style like MSN messenger.
Solution:
http://www.trianglepowers.com/ppc6700/ViewApp.aspx?ID=37
While the program does it's job OK, it often crashes and you need the bloated .Net Mobile Framework installed as well. It also does not have the smart lookup function of the regular messaging program.
11. Use the unit as a USB drive
Solution:
Like mentioned above use
http://www.softick.com/pocket-pc/cardexport2/
or wm5torage
http://www.modaco.com/WM5torage-t238545.html
12. Start a new calendar item and it changes focus after one letter typed. (unsolved)
When you try to type a calendar item, you type one letter then you lose the focus. You then have to click on the blank again.
13. SMS notification on top of any application (Unsolved)
I want, when I recieve an sms, for it to display a notification on top of whatever application I am using without clicking the mail icon.
Windows mobile 2003 had a cool bubble that popped up on top of whatever app you had. I think I had something like this working before, how can we do it again?
14. Loose stylus
After a while the stylus silo becomes loose and starts losing styli like they are going out of fashion.
Solution:
1 square inch of shopping bag plastic shoved in the hole or see this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=247497&highlight=stylus+loose+wizard
-------------------------------------------
Here I will add other people's annoyances and fixes:
1. Store Email on the Storage Card
Qmail will run on the card and store all your emails there, as will npop. See http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...highlight=npop and other threads.
2.Prevent T-Mobile customization
You can prevent the installation of t-mobile customization after a hard reset. See http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=272613
4.Purge Deleted items easily (unsolved)
In Messaging, it takes EIGHT key presses to empty the deleted items folder. This is my second most frequent item pressed (to delete mail from the server) after send/receive.
5.The software keyboard pops up even when the regular keyboard is open, at least until a key is pressed.
Stop the software keyboard from popping up in Landscape mode:
Download this cab file and install it from the wiki.
6.The symbol X doesn't mean close
Fixed by smartskey
SMS chat (solved)
phony said:
10. SMS chat (unsolved)
The Treo has a great feature in while all chats to and from one person are organized into a sort of "chat box" in a style like MSN messenger. Is there an actual good program that will do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This one is solved. See SMS Threader at http://www.trianglepowers.com/ppc6700/Default.aspx
He's got some other interesting apps too.
-Jeff
Here is my listed that I posted a few days ago.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=1022197#post1022197
Here is my listed that I posted a few days ago.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...97#post1022197
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting list, it seems mostly to do with hardware issues there. The email notification sound with outlook in the foreground might be able to be fixed by PhoneAlarm.
or how about this
phony said:
2. Insert Pauses in Dialing
You can, in your contacts insert pauses in the number using a comma:
i.e. 123-4567 , 123
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If adding commas acts as a pause how long is the actual pause? Is there anyone to use diferent pauses. The only reason I ask is I work with automated voice systems for work, and in order to "test" accounts I have to go through like 3 minutes of waiting.
I could really save time if there was a way to dial, pause, dial, pause, and so on.
3. Lock the phone with a button combination (unsolved)
Hi Phony,
3. Lock the phone with a button combination (unsolved)
is solved if you care to look at Molski`s website under:
http://www.molski.biz/mycabs.html
and there check the cab file for:
Molski.Biz VoiceDial Button Customizer stating:
This program installs the full versions of WM5torage 1.60 and DeviceLock,
including shortcuts for both programs and the DeviceLock Control Panel.
It remaps DeviceLock to hardware button 4, the VoiceDial button (single press).
It remaps WM5torage to hardware button 4, the VoiceDial button (long press/hold).
I made this program because I never use the VoiceDial or Record functions of the button, but I often use DeviceLock (and hate it to have it as an item on the Today Screen) and WM5torage and wanted some quick shortcuts to it (but not on the Today Screen...).
Hope this helps cause it works like a charm for me ;-)
Thanks to Molski !!!
CU
FREIMAURER
I bought a 2gig memory card for my phone.. but I can't see anyway to make it store email on the memory card.
There is an option to store attachments on the memory card but not the emails themselves.
The phone has such a poxy in built memory that after installing programs and contacts etc. there is only 5-6mb left... this quickly gets clogged up to the point where in coming SMS, emails and new contacts can't be stored.
So I have a great situation of 2gig of memory, that is semi useless and an OS that doesn't seem to have been designed to integrate extra memory properly into the daily functions of the phone...
Anyone got any clues or addon softwares that might help ?
ALSO... was wondering if anyone knows a way to wipe the tmobile rom off the VARIO and install a plain one or K-Jam rom.... ?
ALSO .. never got that overclocking to stay.. as soon as the phone goes to sleep, it reclocks back to 180 again.....
one comma = 2 secs pause as far as I know
@freimaurer
What is the devicelock program? What does it do?
alternative?
@richardq
have you tried installing the programs onto the storage card instead? There are relatively very few programs that really need to be installed on the internal storage.
Also, remember to store as much data (documents. media, etc) as possible on your card.
Btw according to some previous threads funky things can happen if you force messages to be store on the card.
Use a different program for mail
richardq said:
I bought a 2gig memory card for my phone.. but I can't see anyway to make it store email on the memory card.
There is an option to store attachments on the memory card but not the emails themselves.
The phone has such a poxy in built memory that after installing programs and contacts etc. there is only 5-6mb left... this quickly gets clogged up to the point where in coming SMS, emails and new contacts can't be stored.
Anyone got any clues or addon softwares that might help ?
ALSO... was wondering if anyone knows a way to wipe the tmobile rom off the VARIO and install a plain one or K-Jam rom.... ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Qmail will run on the card and store all your emails there, as will npop. See http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=257629&highlight=npop and other threads.
You can prevent the installation of t-mobile customization after a hard reset. See http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=272613
I have begun to add other peoples annoyances... hopefully we can have a huge fix list
On the issue of turning the phone into a storage device, some questions:
1. Does the Softick solution (Card Export), utilize USB 2.0, or just 1.1?
2. The chart on Softick's site say that it "works" for the HTC, while others are described as "works fine". There appears to be a difference. Anyone know what that difference is?
3. For either solution, does the software need to be installed on the PC? Or on the phone? I would see much less use for this if it has to be installed on the PC, as Activesync is proficient enough. The value to me would come from being able to access the storage while away from my own computers, and without having to set up a partnership.
edit: I see now that Card Export II needs only be installed on the phone.
Thanks!
Big annoyances
My pet peeves are:
Start a new calendar item and it changes focus after one letter typed. I can't believe this persists through updates to windows mobile.
In Messaging, it takes EIGHT key presses to empty the deleted items folder. This is my second most frequent item pressed (to delete mail from the server) after send/receive.
Occasionally, there is a ten second delay for the machine to respond to a start menu press, usually while something with wireless is going on. Why do I have lower status than wireless?
The software keyboard pops up even when the regular keyboard is open, at least until a key is pressed. I would like a setting that says "never pop up the soft keyboard, but leave it available if I press on it"
The symbol X doesn't mean close (fixed by smartskey)
prestonmcafee said:
My pet peeves are:
The software keyboard pops up even when the regular keyboard is open, at least until a key is pressed. I would like a setting that says "never pop up the soft keyboard, but leave it available if I press on it"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This really gets on my tits also.
prestonmcafee said:
The symbol X doesn't mean close (fixed by smartskey)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny you mention this - there was a WM developer blog post about this just last week. It at least explains the rationale behind the X itself and the way WM5 tries to manage memory for the user.
Link to post
One of my biggest annoyances:
WM5 is not smart enough to go into "dot mode" on number fields. For instance when choosing a time for an appointment, I cannot possibly want to enter text. When putting in a phone number, I probably do not want to enter text. It would be nice if you didn't have to hit the dot button to enter numbers in such fields.
jzerocsk said:
Funny you mention this - there was a WM developer blog post about this just last week. It at least explains the rationale behind the X itself and the way WM5 tries to manage memory for the user.
Link to post
One of my biggest annoyances:
WM5 is not smart enough to go into "dot mode" on number fields. For instance when choosing a time for an appointment, I cannot possibly want to enter text. When putting in a phone number, I probably do not want to enter text. It would be nice if you didn't have to hit the dot button to enter numbers in such fields.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree about the dot mode, especially because the Treo nailed this -- it was almost always in the right form, to the point where entering text in a new contact, it figured out that phone number fields should be numbers, names should be letters.
As to the close button explanation, it strikes me as hogwash. First, WM5 does NOT manage memory. One opens programs, eventually using up all the memory, at which point one gets an inadequate memory message, suggesting we close some programs. That is managing memory? But even if it did manage memory, how is it that WM5 uses the same symbol for a different action than Windows XP? The X in WM5 minimizes, an action symbolized by _ iin XP. It is as if they are trying to fool the user and make the device not work as expected.
(Preliminary reports suggest that Vista is going to do this same behavior -- confusing by using different symbols for the same action, and the same symbol for different actions, in distinct settings -- in a really effective manner.)
phony said:
@freimaurer
What is the devicelock program? What does it do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi phony,
sorry for the long delay. The device lock program is from Molski and it does exactly
what you were complaining in point 3 on your agenda
--snip--
3. Lock the phone with a button combination (unsolved)
--snip--
It locks the wizard when you press the VoiceDial button does not matter in which program you are at the moment.
I often use when I am using my bluetooth headset...dial a number lock the phone and put the phone away and
concentrate on my phonecall.
Hope I could help!
CU
Freimaurer
I have updated the list.
There is another annoyance I almost forgot about.
I want, when I recieve an sms, for it to display a notification on top of whatever application I am using.
Right now I have to switch to the messanging program, or view the notification from the today screen.
Windows mobile 2003 had a cool bubble that popped up on top of whatever app you had. I think I had something like this working before, how can we do it again?
My beloved o2 mini was having a few 'issues' - dropping calls, bad battery life, periods of no network - it was time for an upgrade.
So I bought a Telstra branded touch dual off ebay from a company called 'viper technologies'. I discovered why it was called that when the parcel arrived with 'Mike Metcalfe' in the 'from' section - Mike Metcalfe was Tom Skerritt's *real* name as the head instructor of 'Top Gun', otherwise known as 'Viper'.
I'd done some prereading at xda developers and discovered the Telstra version is the 850, which is the NEON and not the NIKI. On the upside the 850 apparently has a larger battery, the ability to work on Telstra NextG, an FM radio, and the power button is in a different place (the same as the o2 mini fortuitously)On the downside it has the telescopic stylus, which is fine because I tend not to use it much. I found that the fact that it was in the bottom right corner took more getting used to than the fact that it was telescopic.
Anyways. First, that telstra branding had to go. I found the right spl uploader at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=377260>, and installed version 1.06.841.4 ROM on it.
The only issues with the flashing was that I missed a crucial step of unplugging and replugging the cable, as per the instructions (in capital letters even) in the aforementioned thread.
I made my own little startup splash screen to replace the windows mobile one and stuck it in the windows directory by making a 240 x 320 pixel jpg in photoshop and naming it 'welcomehead.96.png'.
Before that, of course I had to discover that ActiveSync 4.5 is the latest version for XP, and will always be, because Vista now has some other sort of thing to transfer to mobiles. ActiveSync 4.5 has behaved itself quite well for me, much better than I remember 3.7 ever doing with the o2.
I decided to make a partnership without syncing any data at first, because I knew I'd be connecting and disconnecting and didn't want to always wait for it to sync hundreds of files before it let me do anything. At this juncture the little rubber USB port cover on the bottom first began to annoy me, but more on that later.
OK, it was time to try and make this little fella do everything the o2 could - and more. Familiarising oneself with the new WM6 was fun - the o2 ran 2003 and while they haven't changed much, there were a few things that needed getting used to.
HTC HOME VS CLAUNCHER
My thinking usually centres around getting things done efficiently. And whilst it looked so cool, I came to the realisation that HTC home had to go. The clock? Too much screen real estate (and I have a watch anyway). The message/call/appointment notifiers? I wanted to see the actual appointments written there. The launcher? Only NINE programs? Please! The weather? Firstly I didn't seem to be able to get it for Australia, and secondly... I actually realised that I don't really care about the weather that much! Ringtones? Don't use 'em. Right.
So I stumbled upon a program called clauncher, which it turns out is incredibly cool and efficient. You can just load it up, select it as a plugin and then click and hold on the empty space to access a huge variety of settings. It comes with 8 tabs for categories, like Main, Tools, Comm, Games etc etc. One of the excellent things about clauncher is that you can just import your start menu folder into an empty category and then just cut them out into the right ones. It's easy to move them with a multiple selection function and 'move up' and 'move down' buttons.
I found that keeping the icons at their native 32 pixel size looked nicest, and it's also about the right size for a thumb. I gave them a 3 pixel space between them but then I put a large right margin of 12 pixels, because clauncher has a cool feature which flips icon screens when you touch the blank part. You can also set the total height. So the sizing above gave me five icons in two rows, with a blank portion on the right to thumb to the next page. I discovered also that you can get more screen space (and a neater look) by hiding the tabs altogether.
Earlier on I'd discovered a terrible problem with clauncher - The pop down keypad would only type the first letter or number in the boxes! So I had named the second tab '2' and moved on. The lack of keyboard became an issue when I wanted to add manual shortcuts etc. Luckily I stumbled upon the fix for it. Instead of press and hold for the settings, if you access them via the 'today items' control panel, it gives you the softkey bar at the bottom, and hence your keyboard options back again.
Currently I've got four screens - my most frequently used (vaguely) apps, less frequently used apps, communications stuff and then games.
All I need to find out now is how to anchor it to the bottom part of the screen.
I noticed that WM6 no longer puts your messages on the today screen - 'no unread emails' or whatever. But a shortcut to messaging was an easy fix with clauncher.
HARDWARE KEYS/LONGPRESSENDKEY/SLIDEACTION
The lack of hardware keys was something I didn't realise I'd miss so much. The o2 had phone buttons, volume slider, camera button, the normal nav buttons PLUS appointment, contacts, and voice recorder buttons. I used to run buttonmax on my o2 which let me map press, double press and long press to each of the extra buttons.
I thought I'd found a solution in AEbuttonplus - it was free, it let me map buttons - but the only buttons I could really map were the phone ones.
So I mapped a double click on the green button to close a window (when I'm thumbing around it's actually easier to get to the bottom part of the screen, particularly when using the sliding keyboard). It was working great - until I got a phone call. The green button seems to change purpose depending on what's going on. I had mapped its usual use to 'phone', but that didn't seem to cover 'answer call' or even 'send call' - I had to use the on-screen softkeys. I'd installed 'slide action' software which had been working great, but I realised it must simulate a 'press green button' or something, because it stopped working for phone functions too. So AEbuttonplus had to go.
The small consolation came with the 'longpressendkey' setting somebody thoughtfully put in the ROM - I can at least set my phone to vibrate with one key, which I could never do easily on the o2. I'd love to see 'longpressendkey' set up to allow any customisable link, and while they're at it, make BOTH the green and red keys mappable for single, double and triple press as well as long press. That would give six extra hardware key options and make up for the lack of them elsewhere. Anyways.
ACTIVESYNC/MACROREADER/CEREGEDITOR
Dang it, I stuffed around for a LONG time trying to solve this. On my o2 I had a hardware macro (double press contacts key) which would start activesync, and then another activesync specific hardware macro (hold contacts key) to connect bluetooth and start synchronising. And then to disconnect, I was running the Magic Button task manager and a tap on the X would disconnect and close activesync.
How to do it? I didn't have hardware keys, I didn't have macros, OR didn't I? I ended up discovering a little piece of software here:
http://vitotechnology.com/en/products/download.php?ID=1645&BID=23
in what seemed to be the VITO 'boneyard' where they keep all the seconds and dodgy stuff - I couldn't find a link to it on the main site. It was called 'MacroRecorder' and it comes with no manual or other information. But it works if you just want to record a tap-based macro. Next problem then - how to make a tap for starting Activesync always be in the same place?
You gotta love those registry hacks. I found a program called CERegEditor which lets you connect up the phone, and then edit the registry on your PC. Sure beats keying in all the weird info on the tiny screen using the tiny buttons.
I remapped the bottom left softkey to ActiveSync using the Key 112 registry entry, and now I had my solution to making a tap-based macro. MacroRecorder isn't that tricky actually - you just start the exe, click the okay screen, do your thang, and then press the little red square which has appeared in the middle of the screen to finish. It asks for a name and then creates a file in the same folder as the exe, which you can put wherever. I created an entry for it in clauncher, gave it the activesync icon (Windows\repllog.exe) and now I can start activesync and connect via bluetooth with one press!
While I was there in the registry I did a few other tweaks like making the scroll bars 15 pixels wide (the widest you can make them whilst keeping the 'settings' screen three icons wide) and making the date one line instead of two. There's a list of registry tweaks here:
http://www.ppcsg.com/index.php?showtopic=50029&st=0
Getting activesync to close and disconnect in one action was a bit trickier. None of the task managers I tried would close activesync down altogether, like magic button used to do on my o2. I found some trial software which advertised the ability to 'close activesync on disconnect', which it DID... but the only problem was that it wouldn't OPEN it again when you reconnected.
Given that WM6 now gives you the option of the OK button actually closing things rather than minimising, Magic button sadly had no use anymore. Goodbye, trusty software.
So it seems I've gained a step in making Activesync connection a one-click process... but I've lost my one-click disconnection. Oh well. There's some software which people talk about which was supposed to be able to automatically schedule bluetooth connections, but it sadly seems to have disappeared.
CONTINUED IN PART 2
PART 2
MS READER
I had been using MS reader for my ebooks and it worked fine on my o2, but for some reason it seemed to be painfully slow on the dual. I ended up converting my .lit files using 'convertLit' and downloading Mobipocket to read them. It's not quite as pretty as MS reader, but it's definitely faster to load, and it takes you to your last read book straight away instead of having to go through all the intro screens. Second shortcut in clauncher, then!
TOUCHFLO
Well that cubey thing is super cool - so I spent considerable time trying to get it to have the elusive fourth face. BUT then I asked myself, 'what does touchflo do that I can't do with one press in clauncher?'
About this time I had to hard reset and rebuild everything because I'd added in some irrepairable registry stuff and the cube was whacked out completely.
I left it as three sides, then. Now - it's not immediately obvious, but the 'quicktasks' screen that comes up when you open the slider is actually part of the Touchflo 'family' and it's settings are in the same place in the registry.
So it was relatively easy to replace the 'Email' on the third side of the cube with 'new email' from the APlauncher screen, 'SMS' with 'new SMS', 'Notes' with 'new note' and 'calendar' with 'new appointment'. That way the icons matched up just great.
The problem is that now that I've figured out the shortcuts, it's probably just as easy to put an icon in clauncher for them! So rather than 1. turn on, 2. swipe up, 3. swipe across, 4. press icon; you could eliminate the swipes...
I'm finding too, that new things involving contacts (SMS, MMS, email, phone calls) are best handled by sliding out the keypad, typing the first few letters, click down to them with the navigation keys and press the centre key. Then you get a screen with options to call any of their numbers, text them or email them.
If you go the 'new message' route, you have to access the contacts list in a far more cumbersome manner - smaller type entries which are harder to click with your thumbnail and that you either have to scroll to or type an exact match for it.
I've also found the following when using the touchflo features:
* to get the touch cube every time, start at the htc logo and sweep up with the thumbnail.
* you don't have to be 'twitchy' with the photo gestures. A slower and deliberate circle or half circle tends to make it do what you're asking a lot better - more nail, less finger for the photo stuff too.
* for scrolling, press quite firmly, and use a lot of finger surface area. Too much nail tends to make it click. I imagine I'm smudging stuff off my finger and that seems to work well. For long scrolls do a finger 'flick'.
THAT RUBBER COVER
After only a few days of activesyncing, I noticed the rubber cover on the USB port was starting to not close flush anymore. A bit of research turned up that it was an extremely common problem. So I bit the bullet and cut it off, but I cut it in a way that I could put it back on if I wanted, by slitting through one of the sections that anchors around the little pin, leaving the rubber in a hook shape to hold it in when needed. I tried putting it in the freezer for a time, but that seemed to have no effect, and I was already sick of pulling it off everytime I plugged it in to charge or whatever. So I trimmed that baby off, right next to the middle section, so that it was still held in at two points, but so that the USB port was now exposed. I then took the remaining bit and trimmed it right close to its anchor thing, and slotted it back as well. So now the USB port is exposed but none of the ugly holes which the rubber thing slotted into are. I shouldn't have to worry about wear (because I'm not taking it off all the time) or expansion bulging (because it has one free edge), and because of the way the curves sit it looks like a nicely recessed USB port. I'm not certain the tiny little piece will stay put, but if it falls off (and I can still find it) I could easily put a spot of glue on it - it doesn't look too bad without that little bit anyway. If I did it again I'd probably leave a little bit more rubber on the side closest to the centre, so that the USB port looks better centred in the hole. (see attached pic)
CLOSING THE CAMERA/ALBUM
I found that pressing the X on the camera only minimised it. Fortunately there's a registry tweak called ok_minimize which you can change to make it actually close the app.
IE
Internet explorer is a dog for scrolling big pages. Replace your webview.dll file and it's much better.
.lnk FOR 'PROGRAMS' FOLDER
If you make an .lnk to the programs folder normally, it opens in a file explorer window - not cool. The solution is to make it point to the HTC app 'folderview.exe' and it works a treat. 'Settings' is not so simple though. You can map to individual control panels but not the main one with them all in there. A bit of a weird one.
Anyway, all in all I can't wait to put my dual to work now that it's been primed and readied - my wishlist at the moment would be:
* map double/triple/hold functions to the phone keys
* get slideclose to send a 'close current app' command rather than just go back to today screen
* align clauncher to the bottom of today screen (easier to thumb, and looks neater)
* figure out an .lnk file for the 'settings' control panel (this seems surprisingly difficult - in fact I installed some software that remapped the start menu and I couldn't get into 'settings' to remove it!)
* find a taskmanager or utility that actually kills activesync while it's connected
* to get faster at typing with the dang half-qwerty keyboard!
* I reckon a taskswitcher that used the touchflo 'across' gesture to scroll between open apps would be really cool.
There you have it - hope some or all of that is actually helpful! Thanks to all you guys out there cooking ROMs, writing software and thinking outside the box.
Cheers
jbng
jesus christ are you competing for the longest post of the year award??
holy crap !! i read it from the very beginning and never read such a post before ..... well done dude !! and keep up posting ;-)
re : * find a taskmanager or utility that actually kills activesync while it's connected
i searched such a tool a long time ... never got something which lets me charge niki without syncing on the pc.
workaround: i placed the network connection of my niki on my xp taskbar . when i want to sync then i enable network connection - if not, disable . not the best solution , i know , however - it works and since then i got used to it.
cheers
I take my hat off for these post's! Great job man!
nice post, even better to know there are people out there that search for answers before posting question after question
jbngar said:
I found that pressing the X on the camera only minimised it. Fortunately there's a registry tweak called ok_minimize which you can change to make it actually close the app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you try changing the setting in settings -> task manager -> button -> to end program by tapping x, works ok for me
WEEK 2
Week 2 of touch dual has been a whole lot of fun. I'm still looking for an absolute 'killer' of an app that will make anyone and everyone go 'oooh, aaaaah - that's SO much better than your o2 mini could ever do'... but I'm yet to come across it. The most impressive thing is the voice activation, but whenever I show someone and tell it to 'play track twenty' it always seems to try and 'ring jack henty' or something like that.
AEBUTTON PLUS
I thought I'd try a trial full version of AEButton plus. I began by mapping a double centre-nav press for 'ok/close' and several other cool things to the left and right nav buttons. Worked great, for a time, until I tried typing. It turns out the 'enter' key on the slider does exactly the same thing as the centre press, and so every time I'd make a new paragraph I'd close the window! Not to mention all the weird and wonderful things that would happen when I went to correct a mistake. Click back... click back... click and hold... and the screen is rotating and all sorts of applications are launching!
So I realised the reason that most button mappers don't let you map the nav keys.
The camera button had issues too - even though it was mapped to let a single press do the default action, it wouldn't take a photo. No good.
The red button wouldn't work for some reason either, I can't remember why, but all I know is that I was left with my button mappings on the green button only:
single press = default action, double press = ok, triple press = switch application, hold = close application.
3G, GSM, INTERNET and MMS
The big news this week was the arrival of my 3G sim card. Both of them. I'd ordered one from Optus about a week and a half ago with the promise of '2-3 days'. It didn't come so I rang again and was told 'there's no record of you being sent one, we'll send you another'. And they both arrived on the same day - one at work and one at home.
Then I rang at lunchtime thursday to activate it, and then spent most of the rest of the day restarting the phone to see if it had provisioned in the '15 minute to four hour' window they gave me. I ended up slipping the card into an old Nokia 3200 when I got sick of waiting for the dual to boot up and hang when it was looking for the network. The Nokia flashed up a much more informative 'sim card not registered' message, which it continued to flash up until I gave up late on Thursday night. But in the morning, wonder of wonders, it was working! My family breathed a sigh of relief because they didn't have to listen to the dodgy Nokia startup tune any more.
The first thing I did was try the internet and it performed very respectably. But MMS messages refused to work.
I made a couple of calls to Optus to get the settings and was told 'you have to enter them manually'. So I faffed around with that for ages. The problem seemed to be that MMS would work if 'mms' was the default setting, but then internet wouldn't work. If I changed the default to 'internet', then MMS stopped working. Rah!
Then I discovered in the connections settings an icon called 'network wizard'. I thought it was for WiFi or something. But after clicking it, selecting the provider and restarting, everything worked just fine! Thanks for the heads up, tech support guys! I'll be sending them an email shortly.
3G tends to use more battery, so I tried a tool called bandswitcher to easily change between GSM and 3G, but it didn't help my config problems. And I thought that if I lock it to GSM, if someone tries to video call me it won't work; and if I lock it to 3G, if I go out of coverage it won't switch over. So 'Auto' it was.
BLUETOOTH RANGE
The bluetooth range seems to be a bit paltry on the dual. I tried switching off 'secure connection' and it was marginally better, but I couldn't connect from the next room like I could with my o2. Once the connection is established it seems to be better, but I have to say activesync via bluetooth has been flakier than I'd like - with lots of dropouts etc.
KEYSWOP
Try as I might, the shortcut path '\windows\poutlook.exe calendar -new' that was working for 'new appointment' on the touchflo cube would not map to the right softkey using the registry. So I found a free utility called 'keyswop' which makes .lnk files and helps you to map them to the softkeys. So everything in the software side of the touchflo cube is now in clauncher, a softkey or something else:
* New SMS/MMS/email - open keyboard, press first few letters of name, press 'send message'
* New appointment - press right softkey, enter details
* New note - open notes from clauncher, press left softkey
* IE/comm manager - clauncher icons
CLAUNCHER
Speaking of Clauncher, since last week I now have 15 icons (3 rows of 5) and less screens. It's very seldom that my appointments push it off the bottom of the screen, and if they do it's easily scrollable.
Further to my last investigations about needing to access the options via the today settings control panel to get the keyboard, I've found that you ALSO have to use the bog standard WM6 'keyboard' option - the other HTC keyboards will only give numbers. This seems to be the case in some other applications like Visnotes too. Visnotes is an awesome free application for storing encrypted numbers like bank accounts etc which uses an innovative 'password' - you press three times on a picture in preset places.
TYPING and XT9
I tried out an application called 'touchpal' which advertised itself as 'typing faster than a hardware keyboard'. But I think the dual's 2.6" screen is just a bit small for it to be effective. I've decided to stick with the half-qwerty keyboard and just keep practicing - and it seems to be paying off. My goal is to get to the stage where I can type without looking at the keys with either two hands or one.
XT9 is actually incredibly intelligent software. It uses complex algorithms based on what keys were near the one you actually typed, and combines them with its dictionaries to guess what you were trying to type. And it does very, very well. Anything that can guess the word 'friend' from the keystrokes 'ddeuabd' or 'thorough' from 'ggoedoujgg' is pretty darn clever.
The issue I had was that the default keyboard kept going back to 'ABC' aka multitap. This was fixed by switching the registry key CarrierDefaultTextMode as outlined here:
http://www.ppcsg.com/index.php?showtopic=97265
A couple of other xt9 tips:
* I found I had to use thumbnails (not thumbs) for the keys to avoid double pressing etc.
* For two handed entry, the 'Alt' key is quickest to access numbers and symbols on the top of the keys. For one handed entry, pressing and holding does the same thing.
* every so often XT9 uses a strange default word. My issues were 'boy' for 'not', and 'st' for 'at'. You can fix this by typing and selecting the word you want three times in a row. This seems to 'teach' it and sets it as the first word it chooses each time.
* the first row of symbols can be quickly accessed by holding down * and the relevant number (e.g. *7 will give you a smiley).
I *wish* there was some way to change the symbol matrix. The first three in the first row are already on hardware keys (.,?!) and the next ones are smileys. I would like to at least put a hyphen in the top row so I could access it without leaving the hardware keyboard. I've found the easiest way to enter symbols is to scroll to the row and use their numbers.
ACB TASKMAN
This software tells you which actual PROCESSES you are running. Quite useful. I used it to close down AEButtonPlus when it was mucking up.
I think that's about it for now - the main outstanding issues are still a shortcut to the settings control panel, and a way to align clauncher to the bottom of the today screen.
Otherwise, enjoy!
PS. A fun app I found is called 'guesser' - it basically gives you random numbers for all sorts of things like heads/tails, yes/no, agree/disagree, A/B/C/D, alphabet, 1-100 etc. We were with some friends the other night and everyone picked a number between 1 and 100 and the winner was the first one to have guesser pick their number. Fun in a bizarre kind of way...
Blimey, Claunch is nice, but I swapped to Ultimate Launch, just for the Today plugins within Tabs and animations, plus lots of Icons for it. If you do swap, remove cLaunch first as it buggered up my UL when I removed it afterwards.
ANyone please help. My BA's Touchscreen is cracked and not functioning anymore. But for now i need to use it. When sending SMS i have to touch or press the Send button from the touch screen. But since my screen doesnt work anymore, is there a way like assigning the "Send" button into the hardware key?
Or is there any application that can do this? Anyone please help!
Thanks in advance!
hi
what do u mean cracked?there is a picture and there is no tap action?or there is no picture and response anymore?there is like damage in lcd like un usual colors and rabush and lines?because may be if u change the rom or re-upgrading the rom,may be the problem fixed,specially in minor problems.
i think u cannot send msgs without tap action.
there is a crack, display is okay, but touch response is not fuctioning well, the only thing i notice is that, when i press on the right bottom most of the screen, sometime touch works and sometimes not works. I been trying to do the Align screen method but doesnt work. i think it is the hardware problem.
if that sms is really that important to you, you can always connect the device to the pc and when connected to activesync a nice little freeware called "my mobiler" can be used to control the device with the pc's mouse and keyboard and gets the device's screen on your pc screen. it can be downloaded here:
http://www.mymobiler.com/
but after bypassing the problem for now, we should focus on getting the thing fixed. you could answer homam_france's questions to help us determine what exactly went wrong and maybe you don't need to bypass then anymore but can solve the problem!
EDIT: ignore the request for more information, you already answered while i was writing this
@Chef_Tony
Thank you, but that is what I am doing right now. But my problem is that when i am not in from of my pc and I need to send important sms? Maybe there is a software that can map the Send softkey to hardware key.
Thanks again!
you could try this program:
http://classic.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=21070
there is a trial version there, and if you can install, start and control that program without the use of the touch screen, or from your pc, maybe you can tell it to for example, map the left softkey with the mail hardware key or something like that, i haven't tested it. if that prog is not right, on the bottom of that page there is a link for related applications, maybe one of those helps you.
if, however, the remapping of the keys does not work, for a different sms application, you could try:
iwindowsmobile sms chat:
http://iwindowsmobile.com/threaded-sms-messaging.html
visual it simple sms:
http://www.visualit.co.uk/PocketPC/simplesms_V5.htm
or this one:
http://www.mobileflipper.com/mobile-tips/sms-application-for-windows-mobile-50-60-and-61/
maybe their way of hitting the send button is different and works for your device.
by the way, on any normal mobile phone, you can also send an sms by pressing the green call button, unfortunately, ppc phones don't do that.
greetz
Chef_Tony
Why don't you just go to Setting/Personal/Buttons and map a button to "<Left Softkey>"
Thanks to everyone
Thanks to you all. I finally got a chance to fix my touch screen. not bad at all. except that i forgot to right fit the volume hardware keys.
Be very careful with the Volume key, if you don't close the case wright, you might broke the switch (a little switch on the mainboard that is moved by the volume key). Just make shure it's in the wright place when closing the case
Hi to all.
What can I do in case the ba is working, the screen is perfect but no more touch? it's a os 5.2.1933(18533.0.7.0)
thanks
that can happen but it has probably nothing to do with the rom. it means that the digitizer is broken and you need to look for a new one, maybe a good ebay search or a post in xda's marketplace could help you
thanks 4 the reply. Do you mean a new lcd screen?
no, just the digitizer, it is the see through touch panel on top on the actual display, maybe you are lucky and find a cheap one, as you don't need a new screen.
you can buy a new digitizer on dealextreme.com, i recall a few months ago they were selling the digitizers for Blueangel devices, its very easy to disassemble the BA & replace it. Good luck.
BA Screen alignment settings at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\TOUCH
Can any of the members pl. post the screen alignment settings available at Registry entry Screen alignment settings for BA and/or variants at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\TOUCH
Value Name: CalibrationData
Value data:
? (5 sets of data)
Value type: REG_SZ
Value Name: MaxCalError
Value Data: ?
Base : Decimal
Value type: REG_DWORD
With these values most of the BA devices with defective touch screen can become functional to large extent.
Actually we can add the values to the BA Wiki
Regards
here's the CalibrationData:
17 154,258 154,788 865,785 859,262
i dont have a MaxCalError key.
Good luck,
dtd
Hi DTD,
Thanks for the prompt reply. Pl. verify the data provided by you as it doesnt seem to have the 5 sets for the CalibrationData values & repost correctly.
Thanks in advance
Regards