Database Users

MDA Questions after a week of use...

Hello...
I recieved my MDA last saturday, and since then, have been trying to figure everything out. After multiple calls to tmobile, and even a trip back to the store, i'm still stuck with a few questions that i cannot seem to get answered.
1. The MDA came with the default Tmobile theme which works fine in portrait & in landscape, as well as the default blue Windows theme.
However, I have tried to install multiple themes(including some from microsoft themeselves) and i have one annoying error! Whenever I use an "installed" theme, the portrait screen looks fine, but when I open the keyboard...there are two large greyish/white gaps on the side of the theme.
Ex: I'm using a green theme. When in landscape mode, i have a single green square in the middle of the screen with a strip on either side(left or right)
2. My phone is HORRIBLY slow when and if ANYTHING 3rd party is installed. I've tried today plugins that control the memory usage(figured that would help)...however, it just slowed things done. My phone usually runs at about 14mb Free Program Memory, out of the total 44MB(This seems horrible...with just the default programs installed*for the most part* and maybe agile messenger running.). If i install a today plugin, or a game...this drops below 10mb. Therefore, phone usage can be very aggravating. I cannot think of any other way to increase this memory expect for ONE thing. Would it be possible to transfer ALL programs, applications, etc to the miniSD Card(i have 1gb now, with a 2gb in the mail). This way...i certaintly would not be topping out the usage of the card, and hopefully I can free up alot of space on the phone.
3. As we all know, the packaged IM programs are AWFULLY slow and inconsistent. After a bit of research and trials, I have settled on using Agile Messenger. I'm loving it...expect for a few things.
The MAJOR problem I have with it, is the pop up notification. Its annoying to be surfing the web or playing a game, just to have a pop up tell you that you have recieved a message, EVERY TIME you get a new message(which can amount to a great deal in a short time). I've looked all over for a setting, so unless I missed it, is there any way to shut this off?
A side issue with this program, and also the connectivity of the phone is...:
(even WITH the GPRS hack*always on*), I still lose connection(with 2-4 bars of signal) and therefore i get signed off of Agile, rather often. This isnt' such a problem with me, as seeing it takes a short time to log back in. However, when you look at the conversation from another person's point of view...all you see is
"Soandso" Logged off
"Soandso" logged on
etc
etc
(not sure if that last part was a question or a statement, but if theres an answer, i'd like to hear it!)
4.
My girlfriend has a sidekick, and I LOVE the feature of being able to set phone profiles for specific times of the day. Especially during school, it'll go silent, and the second we are out, its back on normal. I have downloaded PZP to try and fix this loss of luxury. However, I personally don't find the program to be very consistent. Sometimes, it seems as if say my "school" profile is fully functioning, while other times, it really doesnt. Call me crazy, but I have taken a shot in the dark and ventured to say that if one touches the volume button on the phone while the phone is on a specific profile...it will throw it out of its cycle. If anyone has some hints/comments/suggestions of their own on this program or other favorites...I would love to hear from you.
5. After I went about and downloaded the Eten dial pad skin, I noticed that all of my contacts were unable to receive contact photos. I quickly realized that any contact that was saved on my SIM card from my previous phone was stuck in this predictament. However, if i were to create a new contact account, it quickly allows me to customize them alot further. Therefore, i was curious if there was any way to transfer my contacts on my sim card>my phone in a fashion that the phone will accept them.
I'm sure i'll think of more questions(these are just the ones that I havent been able to answer after days of searching :-D)
Thank you so much in advance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi,
the speed of the HTC Wizard is very slow. That was my problem too.
for question no. 2:
Moving the apps to the card will result in more free space on the phone, OK, but running the apps from the card will also result in low speed, because the card is slower than the main memory. So I think you won't get more speed by this.
Try to overclock the device with OmapClock. My device works like a charm with 264 MHz (original was 180 MHz).
Use a tool like FreeUp RAM, which is part of the SK-Tools-package.
Running OmapClock and freeing up the RAM from time to time brings significantly much more speed. There is almost no waiting time if you click on an icon. You can even run Skype with OmapClock (many other users do so).
HTH

I have seen tidbits about overclocking through my endless searches the last few days. I've always heard that you have to be careful if you overclock a device, such as a phone. Has anyone had any known issues with the overclocking? Are there risks in having the phone run at that speed all the time?

The Wizard isn't slow. Install a Qtek rom without branding, and it will be much faster.

even the sales associate at tmobile seemed to think it was slow. Upgrading to a different ROM sounds ok, but i'm trying to keep everything via tmobile. thaks for the tip though.

Hi,
Im looking to get the Tmobile USA MDA, but after reading posts like this Im alittle afraid.
I need to run TOMTOM on this device and thinking that this might bring the device to a halt. Now Im starting to think that maybe I should get the 6700. Please let me know what you found out about making MDA faster. Thank you.

TazMan1688 said:
I have seen tidbits about overclocking through my endless searches the last few days. I've always heard that you have to be careful if you overclock a device, such as a phone. Has anyone had any known issues with the overclocking? Are there risks in having the phone run at that speed all the time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There have been long discussion about what is safe with the Wizard on this forum.
See, for example, http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=40284
Also, the SmartsKey app automates startup of OMapClock.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=41060
(It has a number of other uses as well.
Hope this helps.

TazMan1688 said:
My girlfriend has a sidekick, and I LOVE the feature of being able to set phone profiles for specific times of the day. Especially during school, it'll go silent, and the second we are out, its back on normal. I have downloaded PZP to try and fix this loss of luxury. However, I personally don't find the program to be very consistent. Sometimes, it seems as if say my "school" profile is fully functioning, while other times, it really doesnt. Call me crazy, but I have taken a shot in the dark and ventured to say that if one touches the volume button on the phone while the phone is on a specific profile...it will throw it out of its cycle. If anyone has some hints/comments/suggestions of their own on this program or other favorites...I would love to hear from you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a known problem with backlighting. See http://zendrui.free.fr/PZPForum/viewtopic.php?t=197
Also, check to see what events PZP is handling for profile-switching. For example, if you have calendar-based or time-based rules, they may switch your profile without you doing anything. Go to Settings, Control to see what you Switches you allow. Or check Time and Calendar for your profiles under the Configuration option.

As much as i'm sure overclocking the device may help, especially in my case. I'm just not sure if its worth the risk. Kind of hard to explain to Tmobile why the phone decided to overheat. Seems overly risky to make such an expensive device, run at higher speeds than its DESIGNED to do. But i'm still not sure, it almost DOES seem worth it...decisions, decisions...
Yes, Thank you for clarifying that...I mostly meant, the inconsistency of PZP with the timing of profiles. It seems as if the program will "switch" to the correct profile, but i don't always see a change in the operation of the device itself. Ex: I have it set to go to school mode at 7:30am, this past week(since its spring break, i've noticed that my incoming calls all had the normal ring volume, as well as system tones, etc...
Although it "says" ""School"" i don't really know if its truely in that mode?!
On this note, i have a question about setting the times(which is what i really want to accomplish). My phone goes to LOUD around 5:30am, School at 7:30 am, Normal at 1:55pm, and Quiet at 4pm.
Nooow, do i have to put two times in the school profile such as 7:30 am-1:54(5)???? so that it has an entire time interval...or can i just tell it when to start, and the next profile will automatically kick in and stop the previous.
Also, does putting the phone in standby or shutting it down have any effect on the profile??
I'm sorry in advance if i'm asking very basic questions, i've just been searching for a long period of time, and i usually can't find a specific answer to my question. So I decided I would spend the time to actually discuss MY problem, with hope someone can help. Again, sorry for any inconvienence or redudant questions.

TazMan1688 said:
As much as i'm sure overclocking the device may help, especially in my case. I'm just not sure if its worth the risk. Kind of hard to explain to Tmobile why the phone decided to overheat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a german T-Mobile MDA Vario (= HTC Wizard) and I'm overclocking it permanently with OmapClock and SmartSKey. There is no overheating as far as I can say/feel. I can speed up to 264 MHz (original = 180 MHz). If I try more, the device softresets itself without any damage or loss of data. It's a kind of security mechanism. Of course, battery life is a little bit shorter when overclocking it. But I'm sure, slightly overclocking doesn't damage the device! Maybe the lifetime of the device will be a bit shorter, lets say 6 months in 5 years, but you won't realize that, because you won't be using your device in 5 years. You will sure own some other phone when the CPU dies. Together with the tool "FreeUp RAM" (comes with SKTools), I can reach a comfortable speed for everyday use. But never forget: The Wizard IS quite slow, compared with other devices. You can find smart workarounds for that, but don't close your eyes on that fact.
For running any GPS navigation tools I would consider buying not a Wizard, but a much faster device, if you would ask me. I'm using my Wizard only for addresses (~ 700 items), calendar (~ 1200 items) etc., and without overclocking and using a program like Pocket Informant 2005, that would be an annoying, maybe impossible thing. At the beginning, I had to wait almost 10-15 seconds until e.g. the month overview was created. Switch to the following month - wait again. Choose a specific day - wait again. Oh my god! That needed more patience than I had.

Are you running a basic install without all the phone networks customisation bloat?
you can do this by hard resetting (you will loose data doing this) and then doing a softreset when the customisation dialogue pops up after setting time zone etc.
this will speed things up over an install with tmobiles bloatware. I run tomtom and my device is in general as reponsive as the magician it replaces.
good luck with your phone
R

So guys based on your opinions and experience is it worth for me to get the MDA or should I go with a different carrier and a XV/PPC-6700 ?

Hi yozh,
I don't know the 6700-device at all. Maybe we don't have it here in good old Germany, or maybe under a differnt name. Does it have a bigger display (better for navigation)? Does it have a faster CPU? Then take that one! In my eyes I would never like to use the Wizard for navigation. It's only a better phone, not more, not less. For all other purposes I would buy a bigger machine. I do not want to talk bad about my own device, I have bought it and I use it and it's OK for the everyday things I do with it. It has nothing to do with "I'm proud of my device", like some people seem to be here. It's a phone, man, not a Ferrari or a Rolex. You would tell yourself lies, if you would call the Wizard a powerful device. I had a Palm Tungsten T5 before, and THIS is a powerful device. 2600 items in the calendar (true!), and the reaction time was half a second if you tap on the screen! You can go and have a coffee if you do that on a Wizard.
Just think about it. If you buy a Wizard, try it for a day and then write to me what you think about that phone.
Mh. My english should be better, I know.
Just my 2 Cents!

Hi well the 6700 is the apache I belive and the CPU is 416mhz but its not a "dual core" everything else screen adn such is pretty much the same. Thanks for the reply

SO any one on this forums can recoment apache over MDA ?

yozh said:
Hi,
Im looking to get the Tmobile USA MDA, but after reading posts like this Im alittle afraid.
I need to run TOMTOM on this device and thinking that this might bring the device to a halt. Now Im starting to think that maybe I should get the 6700. Please let me know what you found out about making MDA faster. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See my posts on http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=48448 regarding processor speeds and TomTom.

Wow really TOMTOM runs better on the MDA then on a 400mhz DELL ? Then Im set defenatly getting the MDA, I like GSM network provide3rs better anyway and plus there are so much choices with the phones. I wish I was able to aford the JASJAS that looks really good.

Also don't forget that when you 'close' an appliation it does not really close, it just goes in to background, thus slowing the system down.
Check out your running processes and close all the ones that are not needed or load an app that really closed things.

TazMan1688 said:
1. The MDA came with the default Tmobile theme which works fine in portrait & in landscape, as well as the default blue Windows theme.
However, I have tried to install multiple themes(including some from microsoft themeselves) and i have one annoying error! Whenever I use an "installed" theme, the portrait screen looks fine, but when I open the keyboard...there are two large greyish/white gaps on the side of the theme.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Themes built for portrait screens look wrong in landscape view. Easy solution: build a theme that works in landscape view. The Guava Bubbles theme works fine in both because the background image is larger than portrait size.
TazMan1688 said:
4. My girlfriend has a sidekick, and I LOVE the feature of being able to set phone profiles for specific times of the day. Especially during school, it'll go silent, and the second we are out, its back on normal. I have downloaded PZP to try and fix this loss of luxury. However, I personally don't find the program to be very consistent. Sometimes, it seems as if say my "school" profile is fully functioning, while other times, it really doesnt. Call me crazy, but I have taken a shot in the dark and ventured to say that if one touches the volume button on the phone while the phone is on a specific profile...it will throw it out of its cycle. If anyone has some hints/comments/suggestions of their own on this program or other favorites...I would love to hear from you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use PPC-Profiles-Pro, but you can't slave this to a time. Besides, I'd rather just put it on Silent mode by holding the connection manager button for three seconds (top left side button). Otherwise I use PPC Profiles to switch from Work (BT) to Home (Wifi, no BT) to Sleep (No Wifi, no BT, no email alerts or reminders, just ringer). Walking into a theater, I just go to silent mode.

bilbo_28 said:
Also don't forget that when you 'close' an appliation it does not really close, it just goes in to background, thus slowing the system down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know. I'm using MagicButton. And OmapClock with SmartSKey. And FreeUp RAM. In deed, I do almost EVERYTHING to make my device run faster.

What an awful device!!

Hello,
I bought the prophet 200 (xda neo) hoping it would turn out to be a decent device that provides speed as well as endurance in terms of cpu and battery. Unfortunately was badly dissapointed in both factors.
I installed the newest DOPOD rom.
Here are some apps that I installed:
Pocket Plus
Pocket diary
TCPM
Skype
Resco Explorer
Opera
Agile messenger
spb backup
news break
my problems with the device is that I have the feeling that it operates way too slow. This is the first time I own a PDA so it might be my preception that is deluding me.
a couple of examples: If I scroll down the contact list it goes rather slow and laggy. It takes quite a few seconds if I start up an application like opera, IE or skype. Sometimes the start menue pops down only very slow.
Resco File explorer starts slow and takes a while to perform an operation.
Using Pocket Informant is almost impossible beacuse it takes 6 Seconds or so until the app is started and the navigation through the app itself is very slow. (if i want to add a contact it takes 4 seconds until the forms are loaded)
Same applies to Fusion Agenda.
Talking with skype almost does not work at all. When I make a call i cannot adjust the volume anymore or it reacts like 20 seconds later and flips out on me. I cannot end a call because the device almost crashes and it takes 10 seconds to get it back. The other person can barely hear me.
There is another thing regarding battery drainage.
Let me give you an example, If I have just finished charing the device and it displays a battery charge of 100% I unplug it and 1 minute later it goes down by 1% to 99 - an additional minute and the battery meter displays 98. By the end of the day i seem to have a charge of maybe 40% while using the device for maybe 1 hour intensly and the rest just phone standby with maybe 2 calls of 2 min avrg length.
On top i noticed that the left side of the device gets a littel warm when I am using the device extensively or charging it. Is that also normal?
Whats the deal with my device? i dont know a whole lot about pda's. Is that a normal power consumption?
How can I measure if my device performs well in terms of CPU speed because I have the feeling it also runs slow.
please help

To make your prophet more responsive, go here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=40404
As for the battery issue, not sure what to suggest.

after I overlocked my XDA neo (with JAMin WWE ROM) to 252 mhz, I found it runs all programs very smoothly. I can open media player, and read novels at the same time, switch between all the running programs is very smooth and fast. compared with my another PDA (intel Xscal 400 MHZ CPU), I could not see big difference.

Times you mention are quite realistic. My Qtek S200 performs at about the same speed (program startup times) and I can live with it. To improve a little, try to use some task manager to see if you have cpu-intensive programs or today plugins running. also, close programs instead of minimizing them (use magic button, gs pocket magic or else).
Concerning battery, mine seem to last longer. Do you have a dual sim adapter? I found out it was draining my battery very fast also in flight mode.
If you do not need voice dial, there is a thread in these forums about uninstalling it and magically getting a fast keyboard switch (no more 6 s waiting for changing from phonepad to handwriting recognition).
Hope that helps.

Poket plus really hog the CPU. especially the today plug in. I had the same isues. just enable only 1 tab, delete all the other plug in tab for pocket plus. use the meter that you need only. I only use storage meter and it sppeds up quite significant. either that or use resco's today plug in if memory meter is all you need.

As with almost all Pocket PCs out there, I bet you are suffering from the well-known-not-too-mentioned bug of Windows Mobile 5 (inherited from WM3) where the notification database starts accumulating duplicate entries and in a few days, you'll end up having hundreds of duplicate entries, rendering the device almost useless.
You need something like Memaid or similar app to get rid of the duplicate entries. (There are some freewares out there).
Also, make sure you move all your data (and install most apps) into SD RAM, not the internal RAM. You'll get better performance when you keep your PDA above 10-13 megs of program memory.
Just a few pointers...
Best regards,
Rayan

arg0 said:
If you do not need voice dial, there is a thread in these forums about uninstalling it and magically getting a fast keyboard switch (no more 6 s waiting for changing from phonepad to handwriting recognition).
Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, Can you point me to the post you are mentioning? I have been searching high and low for it but I cannot find it.
I have a Dopod 818 Pro and have Cyberon Voice Commander installed. I uninstalled it yet the 6s delay in switching input modes seems to be still there. I have tried to remove all DLLs and traces of it from the registry, yet have been unsuccessful in removing the 6s delay.
Can you please help?
Thanks

I haven't used the dopod rom but with the newest imate rom (from May06 I think?), the SIP delay is gone. Also, it seems that several of your 3rd party apps are resource hogs. The jamin can function quite well if not trying to run too many today plugins.

Hi thank you for the reply
Actually, I won't like to flash an imate rom to my device as I don't want to take any chances with it. It cost me a lot of money and I want to play it as much by the book as I can hehe..
Other than that, is there a way? I know that this delay has always been there, even when the device was brand new and was running no 3rd party today plugins. It's great that imate managed to solve the issue. Maybe Dopod will get on the ball and do something about it too. I hope so.

RANT: Wizard still faster that Hermes.

Let me just say: I'm not expecting a solution to this - I just want to vent. When I got my Hermes (which I love, of course) I gave my Wizard to my wife (which she loves, of course).
But every time I use her Wizard I notice how much faster it seems. Both units are frequently updated with the latest ROMs and are both now on WM6.. ..but it's so frustrating to see how much 'snappier' the Wizard always seems. Just as an example - pressing the power button makes the Wizard spring into life instantly, whereas the Hermes always has a short pause before it lights up The same goes for dialing and changing tabs in Settings, etc. too.
Oh well. I feel a bit better now I've had a moan.

True, but bring yourself back around by trying to surf with PIE on her's once....
or fire up a 96K music stream and see if TCPMP chokes on her's.....
or tether your laptop and see how well you can surf with it on her wiz...
(hopefully you have 3G coverage where you are)

Oh I know, I know (I get lovely HSPDA most of the time too). But has anyone ever figured out why the Wizard is snappier when Hermes ought to have more powerful hardware?

Something odd goes on when Hermes devices return from powersave. I need to find where that code is too b/c there's some real wonders that can be worked. This internal code does stuff like force portrait mode (a workaround for the magnets in the hermes case that place it in landscape mode), and do some battery power checks (which cause our Hermes not to display the last known battery state). During the execution of this routine, the delay occurs...
The Today screen refresh slowness only occurs when a lot off apps (in particular SPB PP) are installed. I personally think that a Hermes with a clean build is quicker from a response standpoint than a Wizard.

I have PocketBreeze installed - in fact it's the only thing I always install after a clean wipe - and it's the only thing on my Today screen.
If I'm honest, I think I let the fact that there's a delay coming out of power-save totally cloud my judgement. And if it were possible to change that through a hack, I'd be over the moon.
If you and other XDA boffins can crack that one, I'll be happy to make a little contribution for the efforts

Well, I'm coming up to speed on Platform builder after installing it for the ATI patch. This IDE lets me poke around in places I've never poked before (heheheheheh). Unfortunately the tools don't fully work on WM6 yet which is what all my hermes have loaded currently. My 8525 will be freed up soon tho & I'll be able to load a AKU3.3 build and get back to projects like this.

Sleuth255 said:
Well, I'm coming up to speed on Platform builder after installing it for the ATI patch. This IDE lets me poke around in places I've never poked before (heheheheheh). Unfortunately the tools don't fully work on WM6 yet which is what all my hermes have loaded currently. My 8525 will be freed up soon tho & I'll be able to load a AKU3.3 build and get back to projects like this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would pay for an app that would make the power on time as fast as the Wizard's.

Why do we need Athena if Universal Crossbow is already amazing!

Hey mackaby007,
How could you move from Universal Crossbow to Athena at the moment? I find that for a few days of using crossbow, it's exceptionally responsive, also it's a better and more stable ROM compared to WM5. I noticed right away the extra performance and fast synchronization, Better multiple SMS features, No Longer memory Leak problem(So I don't have to keep soft resetting), Reliable Installing/Uninstalling software, Elimination of occasional pauses problem.
Just the mean of justifying Athena purchase now.

jlingo said:
Hey mackaby007,
How could you move from Universal Crossbow to Athena at the moment? I find that for a few days of using crossbow, it's exceptionally responsive, also it's a better and more stable ROM compared to WM5. I noticed right away the extra performance and fast synchronization, Better multiple SMS features, No Longer memory Leak problem(So I don't have to keep soft resetting), Reliable Installing/Uninstalling software, Elimination of occasional pauses problem.
Just the mean of justifying Athena purchase now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree too WM6 on UNIVERSAL is really good, but there are things Universal can't do, but Athena could! e.g. GPS, extra Rom, Micro Drive, bigger screen.
Personally, i really thing the 5 inch screen is a plus, you can fit so much more info on one screen, i used to think Universal screen is big enough, but after using Athena for almost a month, Universal's screen look really quite small to me.
And also i think the design and built quality of Athena is better then Universal as well.

wu5262 said:
I agree too WM6 on UNIVERSAL is really good, but there are things Universal can't do, but Athena could! e.g. GPS, extra Rom, Micro Drive, bigger screen.
Personally, i really thing the 5 inch screen is a plus, you can fit so much more info on one screen, i used to think Universal screen is big enough, but after using Athena for almost a month, Universal's screen look really quite small to me.
And also i think the design and built quality of Athena is better then Universal as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perfectly said Wu. Just to add to that.....WM6 is a great O/S, which makes the Universal great for a while longer.....but Athena blows it clean out of the water in every way!! Therefore Athena (best device IMHO) coupled with WM6.....= cutting edge mobile technology with the richest hardware feature....simply no competition IMHO.
It's like comparing the Wizard with the Hermes....same form factor...different device/technology alltogether.

wu5262 said:
I agree too WM6 on UNIVERSAL is really good, but there are things Universal can't do, but Athena could! e.g. GPS, extra Rom, Micro Drive, bigger screen.
Personally, i really thing the 5 inch screen is a plus, you can fit so much more info on one screen, i used to think Universal screen is big enough, but after using Athena for almost a month, Universal's screen look really quite small to me.
And also i think the design and built quality of Athena is better then Universal as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Wu,
May I know how can you fit more information in one screen compared to Universal? Isn't Universal and Athena essentially the same resolution 640x480, therefore technically you see the same amount of information only bigger size?
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Thanks,

jlingo said:
Hi Wu,
May I know how can you fit more information in one screen compared to Universal? Isn't Universal and Athena essentially the same resolution 640x480, therefore technically you see the same amount of information only bigger size?
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes that is basically right, but don't forget because Athena has bigger screen, you can really change the font size to smallest and is still visible, (so small font in Athena = Medium font in Universal). This way you can fit more info on one screen, you can also change the icon and everything to smaller one.
For opera it's the same, browsing through internet is so much better now.

jlingo said:
Hi Wu,
May I know how can you fit more information in one screen compared to Universal? Isn't Universal and Athena essentially the same resolution 640x480, therefore technically you see the same amount of information only bigger size?
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The next of my concern would be the battery life. How much better is the battery life in Athena compared to Universal? Let say if you work on documents with lowest backlight on continuously in universal would last you for 5 hours but perhaps 8hours in Athena?
Thank you guys for the encouragement.

jlingo said:
The next of my concern would be the battery life. How much better is the battery life in Athena compared to Universal? Let say if you work on documents with lowest backlight on continuously in universal would last you for 5 hours but perhaps 8hours in Athena?
Thank you guys for the encouragement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i would say Athena's battery is truly amazing, personally i think it's much better then Universal. I have not work on documents that much on my Athena, but for day to day normal usage (read news, make calls, send message, play games, GPS), with Bluetooth and 3G always on, with backlight set to highest, it can easily last for 1 day.
Stand by time is good too, i have my athena beside me when i go to bed (battery level is 70%) . Wake up in the morning and is still 70% !

I have virtually every device that HTC have made; So far the Athena (My one is a dopod U1000) is the best so far. It is by far the most usable that i have come across. The screen is Wow and best of all the phone is so dam stable. BT works across all profiles, all my software works, I am a heavy user of the phone both voice and data, I must admit as a very heavy user by the time i get home my battery is like around 40-50%, possibly also because all my apps are on the microdrive. (TomTom runs so fast installed on the MD that when i installed the Maps on the SD card the difference was unacceptable compared to the MD) TBH when i got my Universal it was a little disappointing (way too slow did not support HSDPA), and no soon as the TYtn was released i upgraded. The tytn is also a great phone but the screen size is too small compared to the Universal. The Athena Rocks! best HTC device I have had so far..

i agree with you faisal. I do a lot of remote oncall support for my office and my athena has now completey replaced my bulky laptop, allowing me to connect to my office whenever, wherever I am.
The athena offers a much better and user friendly screen size, although much bigger than the tytn, its size certainly outweighs the annoyance of having to scroll all the time.
To most people the athena is massive but after using it for a week i find myself liking it more and more, as I have said it has now more or less reduced my on call laptop to a brick in the corner gathering dust.

faisal.husain said:
I have virtually every device that HTC have made; So far the Athena (My one is a dopod U1000) is the best so far. It is by far the most usable that i have come across. The screen is Wow and best of all the phone is so dam stable. BT works across all profiles, all my software works, I am a heavy user of the phone both voice and data, I must admit as a very heavy user by the time i get home my battery is like around 40-50%, possibly also because all my apps are on the microdrive. (TomTom runs so fast installed on the MD that when i installed the Maps on the SD card the difference was unacceptable compared to the MD) TBH when i got my Universal it was a little disappointing (way too slow did not support HSDPA), and no soon as the TYtn was released i upgraded. The tytn is also a great phone but the screen size is too small compared to the Universal. The Athena Rocks! best HTC device I have had so far..
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Hey faisal, nice to hear you enjoy your device so much, me too here ! just wonder when you say you install all app on Micro drive, do you come across any problem at all? any more battery drain? And also when you say TomTom on MD is much faster, how much faster is it? I have install mine on SD and it seems really fast as well. (e.g. Load up TomTom in 5 sec, GPS signal in 10 sec, route planning in 7 sec).
After all, will you suggest me to move all my app to MD?

wu5262 said:
Hey faisal, nice to hear you enjoy your device so much, me too here ! just wonder when you say you install all app on Micro drive, do you come across any problem at all? any more battery drain? And also when you say TomTom on MD is much faster, how much faster is it? I have install mine on SD and it seems really fast as well. (e.g. Load up TomTom in 5 sec, GPS signal in 10 sec, route planning in 7 sec).
After all, will you suggest me to move all my app to MD?
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Wu5262 (got it right this time.) I have not had any issues yet running software from MD, even spb shell, which should be installed on main memory works perfectly installed to MD. In regards to TT6, you will notice the difference when switch to browsing the map, play about with the zoom and pull the map up and down, you will notice it redraws much quicker when run from MD compared to SD. As virtually everything runs from MD there is more drain. Average usage (I use HSDPA a lot, do a lot of browsing with opera and use Sling box viewer an average of 2 hours a day so thats streaming TV via HSDPA, an average of around 10-15 txt and at least a total of 45min worth of calls (not all at once)) with 100% charge at the start of the day by the time I get back from work around 6.30 7.00 pm, my battery indicator is between 50-60%. I have not found it an issue yet where I get worried that i may not have enough charge to last till the end of the day. For back up I use WM5storrage to mount the drive and then run a Robocopy script which does differential copies, so I do a backup every day of my MD which takes on average less than 2 minutes every day.

faisal.husain said:
Wu5262 (got it right this time.) I have not had any issues yet running software from MD, even spb shell, which should be installed on main memory works perfectly installed to MD. In regards to TT6, you will notice the difference when switch to browsing the map, play about with the zoom and pull the map up and down, you will notice it redraws much quicker when run from MD compared to SD. As virtually everything runs from MD there is more drain. Average usage (I use HSDPA a lot, do a lot of browsing with opera and use Sling box viewer an average of 2 hours a day so thats streaming TV via HSDPA, an average of around 10-15 txt and at least a total of 45min worth of calls (not all at once)) with 100% charge at the start of the day by the time I get back from work around 6.30 7.00 pm, my battery indicator is between 50-60%. I have not found it an issue yet where I get worried that i may not have enough charge to last till the end of the day. For back up I use WM5storrage to mount the drive and then run a Robocopy script which does differential copies, so I do a backup every day of my MD which takes on average less than 2 minutes every day.
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thanks for the info, i will keep that in mind, maybe next time when i upgrade i will install everything to MD.
One more question, do you have any issue with spb mobile shell? does your spb menu load up correctly? mine one don't load up straight away, i need to point here and there to get it to work. when it finally loads up, all my sound is gone.
I have heard other people having the same issue as well, might to do with landscape VGA. Anyway, i have disable the spb Menu to load up from startup folder and only use the mobile shell plugin.
Your one working with spb menu?

wu5262 said:
thanks for the info, i will keep that in mind, maybe next time when i upgrade i will install everything to MD.
One more question, do you have any issue with spb mobile shell? does your spb menu load up correctly? mine one don't load up straight away, i need to point here and there to get it to work. when it finally loads up, all my sound is gone.
I have heard other people having the same issue as well, might to do with landscape VGA. Anyway, i have disable the spb Menu to load up from startup folder and only use the mobile shell plugin.
Your one working with spb menu?
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Yep, got the same problem with spb menu.

I have the same problem with SPB shell, how do you disable the sob menu from the start up menu? which files do i delete?
thanks

faisal how do you install SPB mobile shell to the MD as when i install it it doessn't give me a choice where to install and only installs on the main memory.
thanks

bashi007 said:
faisal how do you install SPB mobile shell to the MD as when i install it it doessn't give me a choice where to install and only installs on the main memory.
thanks
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Hmm weird, I will test it again, but am certain it gives me a choice

bashi007 said:
I have the same problem with SPB shell, how do you disable the sob menu from the start up menu? which files do i delete?
thanks
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Click to collapse
go to windows/startup and delete the spb menu there

Hi faisal, when you installed your Tomtom did you let it auto start from the SD card and then copy everything over to your MD or did you use Activesync to move all the setup files to your MD first?

Yes, I have to agree U1000 is so damn stable. It's probably the most stable and the most problem free out of many PDA's that I have used before. It's much more stable than Universal. And that's for sure. All my softwares are indeed working flawlessly. Bugs problems that I used to experience under Universal WM5 seemed to have already been ironed out completely. It's the most mature WM5, which is very impressive IMO.
At the moment, I'm reluctant to upgrade to WM6 in June unless they offer similar stability which I doubt it after knowing Microsoft for a long time.
Well I was having a lot of problems with Universal WM6 and Vista, Office 2007, WDMC. Synchronization problems, Slow Word processing problems, partnership problems, Contact notes disappearance and many others...
I'm so happy that I bought U1000 after so many considerations.
faisal.husain said:
I have virtually every device that HTC have made; So far the Athena (My one is a dopod U1000) is the best so far. It is by far the most usable that i have come across. The screen is Wow and best of all the phone is so dam stable. BT works across all profiles, all my software works,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Me too agree...just superb...

Rants about the Touch Dual? comments pls.

Hi guys, considering getting a Touch Dual as my next phone, currently using a HP6300 series
would like to gather some feedback on some of the complaints i have seen on other forums on this model. this is impt as i feel that when getting a device, i need to like both the features and also be able to accept the faults as well
1. Battery life - with 3G turned on my Dual can't get through a day of normal busines use without charging. With 3G turned off I have to charge it every night to get through the next day. The M600 used to survive the weekend at least (if I turned the radio off at night).
2. Signal strength - the M600 managed to hold on to its signal for most of my daily train journey to work (up the main line from Basingstoke to London). I could expect to hold onto a call for a few minutes most of the time. Unfortunately the Dual doesn't cope. In 3G mode it barely holds signal long enough to dial a call. In GSM mode, it usually drops the call before I can introduce myself. It also seems to take forever to retrain to a new cell. This drives me (and my customers) mad when someone else is happily continuing their call a few feet away at the same time.
3. Keyboard - I echo all of the points Gears made. I was pretty quick with the stylus on the M600 and hoped the keys would speed things up as the Dual has a smaller screen so is more fiddly to use with a pen. That the keyboard driver isn't clever enough to switch context sensibly just makes me laugh - insanely. That it can't display the letters as fast as I can (sensibly) type them on the keyboard is pathetic.
4. Speed and crashing - it's a joke that the software can't cope with displaying numbers on the screen as you dial them the keyboard. It's painful that often the SMS application locks up so you can't read the messages. It's ridiculous that the memory management doesn't clean up properly after you force quit these applications in an attempt to resolve these issues and you've got to reboot the phone.
I'd love to love the Dual. At first glance it's good looking and slim and light and for all its faults I'm trying to continue to use it but my blood pressure won't stand it for long. I don't want to say that there is nothing good about the Dual - WM technology has come a long way for sure - it just drives me mad that HTC, Microsoft and Orange combined can't or won't put in a little extra effort to make it do the basic things properly. I don't need a flashy media player, I need to read my emails; I don't need to make video calls over 3G, I need to make voice calls reliably; I don't need GPS but I'd love a battery which lasts better than my first GSM mobile in 1994. At the moment the Dual doesn't do it. And I'm sad about that because I don't think this specific product needs to be as frustrating as it is to use every day.
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the above is a rant from coolsmartphone forumer.....
based on the above...the Touch Dual sounds almost unusable!!...
anyone care to comment on the above?? would really appreciate it

Please see following link for some of my comments on this device: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=370336
Regarding the comments about the battery, signal strength, and keyboard, I really haven't encountered any of those problems. I happen to find all these things quite alright.
The stability thing is a little true. But if you look around this forum, ppl have found various tweaks to fix most of the problems and make the device a joy to use. The comment about the phone not being able to handle numbers as you dial is quite ignorant. There is a little lag, but that's because as you dial, the phone searches through all your contacts in real time to select and display those contacts who's number and/or name matches what you are dialing. I find this feature to be extremely useful.

ohyeahar said:
Please see following link for some of my comments on this device: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=370336
Regarding the comments about the battery, signal strength, and keyboard, I really haven't encountered any of those problems. I happen to find all these things quite alright.
The stability thing is a little true. But if you look around this forum, ppl have found various tweaks to fix most of the problems and make the device a joy to use. The comment about the phone not being able to handle numbers as you dial is quite ignorant. There is a little lag, but that's because as you dial, the phone searches through all your contacts in real time to select and display those contacts who's number and/or name matches what you are dialing. I find this feature to be extremely useful.
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yup been searching around, read several "mini" reviews including views in this f0rum....but this rant seems to be the worst lol..just wanted to know if those complaints were really that bad...
although i knoe this will be a big leap from my 6300 LOL...just want to make sure i can accept its flaws...
1.is the ringing volume really as soft as mentioned above? my 6300 is really soft..can it get any worse than that lol
2. stability of course is of utmost importance...as long as there are tweaks to improve this...i'm cool

generally happy with the stability. Especially after latest ROM update, have not had any impromptu phone restarts.
Tend to agree with signal strength - I have been getting drop-outs that never happened when I had a nokia E65 (also a slider).
Battery life is fine for me (ie same as all phones these days - expect to charge every night), I do not use bluetooth very often though.
I will say, though, the most annoying design is the USB port. It's exposed, and has long, thin pins. The pins in mine have gotten bent (easy to do if you put USB cable in upside down, or your child thinks it's a good place to jam the stylus), and although I can straighten with some fiddling, it's gotten pretty bad, and I will have to return to get it repaired properly.

I admit that the out-of-the-box touch dual is far from perfect. I have been using it for 6 months and I am still trying to 'tame' it. I think I have made so progress now so here it is:
1) Flash to a wm6.1 rom for the latest drivers
2) Use pocket plus instead of the HTC X-button. You have to uncheck everything in the X-button, reset, then install pocket plus
3) I use spb mobile shell 2.0 and spb diary on today only. No HTC home.
4) Disable cube --> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=368269&highlight=biotouch
After I have disabled the not-used cube, not only do I have about 7megs of memory more, but I seem to notice a significant improvement to the battery life. With spb mobile shell you absolutely don't need cube. Recommended.

Please delete

hellogts said:
I admit that the out-of-the-box touch dual is far from perfect. I have been using it for 6 months and I am still trying to 'tame' it. I think I have made so progress now so here it is:
1) Flash to a wm6.1 rom for the latest drivers
2) Use pocket plus instead of the HTC X-button. You have to uncheck everything in the X-button, reset, then install pocket plus
3) I use spb mobile shell 2.0 and spb diary on today only. No HTC home.
4) Disable cube --> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=368269&highlight=biotouch
After I have disabled the not-used cube, not only do I have about 7megs of memory more, but I seem to notice a significant improvement to the battery life. With spb mobile shell you absolutely don't need cube. Recommended.
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wow that sounds pretty extreme........lol
can spb mobile shell really fully replace the cube n htc home?? especially in terms of functionality and customization possibillities?
hmm...pocket plus....what about wisbar advance?
comments appreciated!!

ReDeViL said:
wow that sounds pretty extreme........lol
can spb mobile shell really fully replace the cube n htc home?? especially in terms of functionality and customization possibillities?
hmm...pocket plus....what about wisbar advance?
comments appreciated!!
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This is personal preference. I don't like pocket plus.
But I use Ultimate Launch, Mobile Shell 2, Wisbar Advance 3, BatteryStatus and PhoneAlarm to accomplish what I need.
Somewhere along the line, my volume button stopped working (it now locks up my phone) and I am too lazy to hard reset and figure out why but will do it soon.
But I'm with everyone else - while the niki is not perfect, fiddle with it a little and you'll get what you want. It's a great phone.