Database Users

Phone Application

I am new to the whole PDA form so please forgive me if this is obvious but I have not found the answers on this site.
I have an O2 XDA mini s and am slowly getting the hang of it.
Problem: On closing all running programs in task manager I loose the use of the phone keypad, pressing the green call button brings up the phone application but minus the number keys, calls can still be made through contacts. A soft reset is required to recify.
?Related problem: In task manager, there are programs running that are not visible on the list (if I press below the last visible item something is selected and I can "goto" it.
Plus on occation the listed item takes me to a different program ie. selecting media player takes me to Word (no set pattern though).
All help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance

StefanF: what task manager are you using?
V

Sorry, just to clarify, PDA is "as out of the box", so just the WM5 task manager.
Thanks for your interest, I have followed several of your posts and seen your site. You have some great programs I would like to use, particually like the big phone buttons and close application tool but am quite scared of this thing.
It may be a while before I mess to deeply.

Stefan: that sounds like an odd problem.
The built in task manager is useful but not very comprehensive.
If you want to view all running tasks etc, there are much better programs out there, many are freeware. If you can't find any better, check out one I've posted here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?p=190257#190257
It's not written by me, I've just re-added some features.
Note - closing the phone (cprog.exe) is not a particularly good idea unless you really need it, because some other apps expect it to be loaded (eg contacts)
My programs
Some are ok. You might want to try my program VJOkButt if you just want to close apps to keep your memory healthy. But that's subject to taste and it's not clear how useful - although on the Wizard, it might be helpful.
The big phone buttons are actually just for the universal, it's not designed for Wizard. Basically it's for VGA phones that are using the ful VGA hack.
I've got some other stuff coming out soon. Stay tuned :wink:
V

Phone application
Thanks for the info.
I think, from what you have said, I need to know what I am doing to shut down the phone application as it is never my intention.
Pitty about the big button program. Why is there not full customisation of the screen (as in desktop PC's, can change the size of buttons, scroll bars... both of which are to small for finger use on this)
As a side note, when I am in an application the menus and any selections within make a click upon pressing ie. in word, Menu>Cut each selection makes a click. I have all tap sounds off but the only way I can stop it is to turn the master volume all the way down. Any ideas?
Once again, thanks.

You have to overwrite some of the default sounds with empy sounds to disable all click sounds. At least that's what I did, but that was a long time ago..basically you use your pc, make an empty .wav file, and overwrite the necessary files in your \windows\ folder. If you're interested in doing this and need more help, shout out!
Closing the phone - yes, you would probably not close it without knowing what you're doing. I presume when you're not using the task manager you're not having the phone problems?
Try a program called CETuner to help play around with your scrollbars etc. It's good for modifying colour themes and various settings on the go. Another program worth looking at is Tweak 2k .net.
V

Many thanks.

Personally i'm currently using Magic Button to close apps and act as a task manager. http://www.freewareppc.com/utilities/magicbutton.shtml
It allows you to close or minimise apps, and by clicking the "house" icon on the windows bar you can also close all, soft reset etc. Final point on it is that you can see X number of running apps and touch to swap to them, or "hide when inactive" and "keep alive" so you dont close (or even see) some apps - i keep messages & phone in this state to improve response times but close use close all to kill everything else.

Danger using Task Manager
Stefan,
I had the same problem. Ideally you should use Start/Settings/System/Memory/Running Programs to close down active tasks. Yes, the Task Manager does it and you can launch it from the menu, but it is a bit dangerous (as I found out). The Phone app appears in Task Manager as an unnamed icon and its icon looks like the Windows Media Player one (at least it does on my XDA Mini S). Shutting this down will do exactly what you describe (I started a thread called 'Help I'm stuck in Contact History on this).
By all means use Task Manager if you want to, just don't shut all apps, leave the unnamed 'media player lookalike' icon.
Cheers. :wink:

To the original poster:
I had this problem when i got my XDA at first. To be honest, i think its the o2 active stuff that messes up the phone app.
My suggestion is this: back up any important data, then do a hard rerset of your phone. When the screen comes up about Standard, Corporate or Basic install choose the Corporate option and use the passcode 0506. this will allow you to use the phone without any of the o2 crap and since i done it i've had no problems with the phone.
just to let you know, this will stop the phone setting up its own GRPS and MMS settings, but if you phone o2 ar go into a shop then they will happily send them to you.
Hope this helps.

Task Manager or Active ?
I suspect that it is shutting down the phone app that's causing the issue not Active. I agree, get rid of Active if you don't like it (I use Basic so I still get the MMS settings), but I don't think Active is the cause.
Just my humble opinion of course.

I'd completely overlooked that StefanF was using o2. I'm an O2 and Orange user, but O2 active has never touched my system. Sounds like that's quite an oversight by them if the O2 Task Manager allows you to close the phone app... not recommended!
V

Oooer indeed
My friend has an XDA Exec (Universal) and he had lots of problems with the phone app which I strongly suspect were much the same thing. (although his apps in task manager were not unnamed, he had multiple phone apps running). I didn't know the Task Manager was an O2 add-on, I assumed it was a WM5 feature.

A beauty but what a quality beast

G'day all
I recently got myself a lovely HTC wizard (branded O2 XDA Mini S, ). It's a device I've been researching for a while so I was very much excited to try out my first WM product when it arrived this morning.
However, for all it's beautiful design, it's really been a bit of a big pain on several ways. Most significantly and immediately noticable is the very sluggish interface. Some things, like notifications, I can dismiss fine, but the majority of actions, such as starting a program, opening one of the left-hand buttons or switching to landscape mode, take several (maybe 10) seconds to happen and even then the screen will only be partially and very slowly redrawn. This seems to only occur at the 'today' screen (other programs are pleasantly snappy). Anyway, it's rendering the today screen pretty useless and since it's the starting screen it means everything is taking much longer to do. Is this just my device or is this a recurring issue?
Cheers

Have you reinstalled without the o2 Active stuff (basic mode option I think). It the real hog.
Other than tat have a look around the messages is the forum for various registry hacks to speed this baby up.
It does work well, you just have to tweak the heck out of it.

So it's a matter of going around deleting stuff that 02 put on?

Basic install plus something like SPB or Magic button to close apps properly (apart from the ones you regularly use, such as phone/messaging/IE) makes the device at least twice as quick.

wilesd said:
Basic install plus something like SPB or Magic button to close apps properly (apart from the ones you regularly use, such as phone/messaging/IE) makes the device at least twice as quick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is exactly what I've done on my mini S...O2 Active is really doggy, the interface looks fine, but mini S can't affort....
Basic intall with SPD Plus work fine for me....I can now play mp3 & mp4 files smoothly with beta player, connect BT GPS receiver with TT5...

To really clear all the clutter, perform a hard reset and when you get to the 'about to customise' step (short countdown) perform a soft reset.
This results in a completely clean OS thats much more responsive. SPB pocket plus is a good app to install next.
There are other registry tweaks such as disabling menu animation that make an additional improvement to the responsiveness
There are plenty of discussions about this in the other threads - have a search around.

Dunno if this works on the Wizard but on the magician, if you map one of your buttons to the "Start" menu, then you can do a lot of program switching without going via today page - and the whole re-draw of it.
Particlulrly if you chose wisely the 5 programs that you can specify for the start menu.

jacro said:
To really clear all the clutter, perform a hard reset and when you get to the 'about to customise' step (short countdown) perform a soft reset.
This results in a completely clean OS thats much more responsive. SPB pocket plus is a good app to install next.
There are other registry tweaks such as disabling menu animation that make an additional improvement to the responsiveness
There are plenty of discussions about this in the other threads - have a search around.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The soft reset method is OK if you don't use MMS as the MMS app will not be installed, if you want to use MMS though the Basic install is better

I cleaned my mini-s the hard way
Hard reset, soft reset, then installed some of the extROM cab files manually and setup the GPRS manually too. Wizard now runs ok, its not fantasticly fast, TTN5 still takes time to load, and incoming calls while it loads cause problems (but thats only 15 secs!). Magic button is great, pick the apps you need to keep open (phone, text messages, etc) and "keep alive" and "hide when inactive" then just use close all to keep the RAM free.

Alright - I'll try one of these hard/soft reset cleans. But...
Another problem I've been having is that ActiveSync refuses to detect my device over USB. The USB connection seems fine (Windows XP detects new but unkown hardware - seems to lack an RNDIS driver or something), but a sync I can't make work.
So I can't install anything again. After a hard reset will applications such as phone and messaging be restored or will the require a reinstall (that I can't do)?
Also, remapping the buttons sounds like a brilliant idea. I'm not so big on IE so if I made that my start menu toggle I could reach a whole load of things one-handed. One thing that oft annoys me is when you have to close a program or dialogue box with the cross in the top-right. Can that be remapped to, say, the voice recorder button so I don't have to keep awkwardly touching the screen?
That Magic Button sounds handy also - freeware by any chance? I'll google it in a sec. It's annoying (well, peculiar, coming from a PalmOS background) to have several applications running at once - all that's needed is the phone/messager apps and perhaps the music player.
Thanks for all yer replies!

Interesting situation with outlook

Hey all has anybody else experienced this? when I open up outlook to check emails or text messages outlook's background doesn't load up, I can see on the top bar the name of the inbox I'm currently supposed to be looking at but the background is my today screen. I can send new messages but basically I can't read new ones if I try to touch the screen I activate whatever I hit on my today screen. I took off all my today screen plugins, but nothing, if anyone has any suggestions or ideas, I would appreciate it.

Sounds obvious and stupid but have you turned the device (hold power button) and back on again? This happens to me sometimes and after a reboot it seems to fix it.

Yeah I do the same thing, the only problem is that it's doing it too often and it's a pain to reset my phone 3 - 4 times a day.

Oh i see. Mine has never done it that often, sorry I can't help any more!

You have a software conflict somewhere - it will be v hard to track down. You could try uninstalling some especially if you have spb products installed as they often are the culprits. But you probably need to hard reset and add programs one by one to find the one.

I had this problem in the past (with old ROMs though)
The way I managed to overcome this is to keep outlook running in the background.
I'm using the Spb Pocket Plus and in the "close button configuration" I added the outlook to the exceptions list. By keeping it running, it always come back with a complete screen (not just top and bottom).
But then again, I didn't see this behavior since I upgraded the ROM; I'm on the 2.26 ROM now.

@gilbnx
Yeah was just thinking of doing something like that more or less.
@meschle
The only spb software I have is spb backup, I always works at first it's just at some point after I've been using the system for a while that it starts doing it. It could be after opening some application and I just haven't noticed. I'll try opening one application at a time and checking to see if it stops working after a certain one, yes tedious I know, but tell you the truth I don't use a whole lotta applications, so I'll stick to the ones I usually open up.

For those of you having this problem, if you are using smartkey, make sure outlook, MMS, Text messaging, are set to be ignored, just like it is in the default smartkey.ini. I had altered the ini and taken out all the programs since I wanted them all to close, but I noticed it started happening after closing outlook with smartkey, so I put it back on ignore and haven't had any problems since (and I hope I won't).

Problems with the Titan

I was just wondering if anyone else have had any of these problems that I have been having.
1. Sometimes the phone will not play any sound at all no music,slide sounds, or ring but i can make a call and hear and talk perfect and the phone will vibrate when i get a call i made sure the sounds are on. Soft reset fixes this everytime but it seems to happen more now like every other day.
2. I have the 6 tab HTC home plugin on my today screen and it used to play music right off the today screen on its own media player not WM. Now when i try to use it it opens WM and i cant change songs from my today screen and it seems stuck on a song but it does not change or update the track info. The only thing it does is open WM when i tap the song name but nothing else. I think I might of messed this up when i reinstalled the WM play button today plugin and i now set the plugin to use the HTC audio manager but i would like it to control WM like i wanted to and the 6 tab plugin to control the HTC audio like its supposed to
3.Almost everytime i get 2 text messages at the same time or a phone call and text at or close to the same time this thing goes nuts vibrating till i turn it off.
4. Sometimes when i use Windows media player and use one of my playlist some of the songs say file cannot be found and i have to delete the song and go back and add it again when its in the same folder as it always is.
Anyone else having any of these problems or am i the only one? I have the new ROM installed and alot of other junk

the no sound problem i have encounterd. as a matter of fact it happened twice today. don't know what that's about.
as for the rest of your issues i have never experienced them. i do have the 6 tab home plugin and i do play music but i've never experienced number 2.

Do you have anything setup in your calendar? On one of the HTC Home tabs, it has the sound settings. If it is set on automatic, it will put the phone on vibrate if you have any appointments on your calendar, and turn back the sound when the appointment is over.

5.0stang said:
3.Almost everytime i get 2 text messages at the same time or a phone call and text at or close to the same time this thing goes nuts vibrating till i turn it off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also have the same 6 tab HTC today installed.
And almost everytime I get a txt or an email notification + a phone call at the same time, the unit freaks out, I can't answer the phone and I almost have to always perform a hard reset.
I have these installed:
- HTC Home Customizer
- TCPMP
- flashlight
- Google maps
- Opera Browser
- PHM RegEdit
- PocketCMD
- RDP Port Switcher
- Telus Mobile Email (visto client I think)
- X-Button
Running WM6

Same Problem.. No Sound
I am having the same problem!!
I am on my second Mogul now due to the fact that intermittently
all the sounds from the speaker stop working. (Ringer, Music, everything)
The sounds come back after a soft reset but it's very annoying!
I have seen other posts with people having this problem but no solutions.
I believe this is a software issue not a hardware as this is my second Mogul this is happening to (the first one I RMA'd for this same issue) and I have tried several different software products on the phone.
This is the what I had on the first mogul:
SPB Mobile Shell
SPB Phone Suite
SPB Pocket Plus
SPB Backup
IM Plus
Resco Explorer
Sk Tools
2kTweaks
This is what I put on the second mogul:
HTC Home (6 Tab)
HandySwitcher
IM Plus
Resco Explorer
SPB Backup
SK Tools
Both are losing all sounds after a period on time!!
If anyone can help me figure out I am periodicly losing sound I would be forever in your debt!!!!

Here's a crazy thought.... any of you try to do a hard reset and NOT load any third party or non-native apps onto the Mogul to see what happens for a few days?

TC1.... The phone is useless without some of these apps.... I can't pull out the stylus everytime I want to do something on the phone....

There are usually alternative apps. I guess the question is would you rather find the cause to the sound problem or run those apps?

ImCoKeMaN said:
There are usually alternative apps. I guess the question is would you rather find the cause to the sound problem or run those apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly.
This is troubleshooting 101... need to setup a controlled experiment. Start with the basic product and go from there. Note your observations. Add one application at a time and note your observations. Using deductive logic you'll eventually find the cause.
And others please don't whine about the Mogul being "unusable" without these extra apps. The Mogul functions out of the box as a phone and WM6 PDA. Do some of these apps make you more productive? Absolutely. But in order to troubleshoot you can live without them for a few days.

This is my 2 pda in less than 3 months when i 1st had it i didnt know i could install all these apps so it was at least a week or two before i found this site and a few others and i remember i installed the new ROM hoping it would fix the problem...still hoping...

IM+....
Some people have claimed that it's IM+ thats causing the issue........ I will uninstall it and see what happens.... Let's keep this post alive and get the bugs out!....

Got #2 onmy list fixed now i can use the HTC audio manager on my 6th tab and my windows on the today screen on the bar right underneath if i knew how to get a pic of my screen it would be easier to explain what im talkin bout...still waitin on a ROM fix or something.... or REV A

TC1 said:
Exactly.
This is troubleshooting 101... need to setup a controlled experiment. Start with the basic product and go from there. Note your observations. Add one application at a time and note your observations. Using deductive logic you'll eventually find the cause.
And others please don't whine about the Mogul being "unusable" without these extra apps. The Mogul functions out of the box as a phone and WM6 PDA. Do some of these apps make you more productive? Absolutely. But in order to troubleshoot you can live without them for a few days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree 100% with you TC1.. I have similar apps listed installed on mine and have no issues. Now when I first came across HTC Home installer I did have issues with certain alerts / ringers not working. This was mainly if I had removed my SD card temporarily and at the same time received a call / alert. Of course it wouldnt sound but when I would put back the SD it still wouldnt sound so I had no choice but to reboot the device.
What I determined is setting the HTC profile to SILENT prior to removing the SD card avoids having to reboot in the invent I would get a message / alert / fone call. Since then no issues.
Also installing the more current HTC home helped out.. As ringer profiles on occasion would set itself to SILENT / VIBRATE on it own.

Ive always thought it had something to do with the 6tab HTC home plugin but i removed it and it still did it

I believe it has nothing to do with any 3rd party software but the phone (windows,HTC,Sprint) itself.... I just wish there was a way to fix it!!

Have anyone with WM5 loaded on their titan had these problems? I really wanna know y i cant use any playlist on my windows media player more then 5 times before it says file can not be found in libary when i have not moved anything

same probem quick fix
i get the same problem.
but all i do is turn it of and then turn it back on and it works great.
haven't figured out what is causing it, all i know is that it does it after i get on line. don't have any third party software on it yet so that could not be the problem. i am how ever looking for spb phone suite or anything with smson it for mobile 6. mogul titan

Brand New to WinMo, attempting to figure out Omnia 2

I got my Omnia 2 back in March. I am a very beginning user, meaning I do not know how to use roms and cooking and registry editors etc... I was hoping I could get a step by step guide to changing my theme. (if that is what it is called) I would like it to be more intuitive, like the iphone or android. I am also uncomfortable using a registry editor, I do not know what I am doing.
I have been able (with this board and others help) to unlock the GPS, and how to tether the phone to my laptop without using verizon's software.
My main problems:
-the phone is slow, I think because the 10 apps I have installed are all on my device and not in my storage, I have tried to remedy that by installing directly to my storage, but it often doesn't work.
-sometimes after a phone call it shuts down or goes black and I have to take out the battery to turn it back on
-I also can't see the screen in sunlight
-my email isn't being sent out from my hotmail account
I have searched for solutions to these problems, but to no avail. (at least for beginners like me)
Verizon Wireless Samsung Omnia 2 S:i920
Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional
What other information is needed?
Thank you so much for your help! I will gladly donate to a developers project if I can get some support. (so I don't have to go buy a new phone!)

I've tried answering some of you questions below. hope it helps.
erieboatergal said:
I got my Omnia 2 back in March. I am a very beginning user, meaning I do not know how to use roms and cooking and registry editors etc... I was hoping I could get a step by step guide to changing my theme. (if that is what it is called) I would like it to be more intuitive, like the iphone or android. I am also uncomfortable using a registry editor, I do not know what I am doing.
I have been able (with this board and others help) to unlock the GPS, and how to tether the phone to my laptop without using verizon's software.
My main problems:
-the phone is slow, I think because the 10 apps I have installed are all on my device and not in my storage, I have tried to remedy that by installing directly to my storage, but it often doesn't work.
Try the task manager to close any programs running in the background. That usually slows mine down.
-sometimes after a phone call it shuts down or goes black and I have to take out the battery to turn it back on
Mine too. Join the club. Not a big deal as it will get your phone running faster again!
-I also can't see the screen in sunlight
Have you gone into your settings and adjusted your backlight settings? Might help.
-my email isn't being sent out from my hotmail account
Go into your options in your hotmail account on the phone and you should be able to set up hotmail to be pushed immediately to your phone. you might have yours set to manual.
I have searched for solutions to these problems, but to no avail. (at least for beginners like me)
Verizon Wireless Samsung Omnia 2 S:i920
Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional
What other information is needed?
Thank you so much for your help! I will gladly donate to a developers project if I can get some support. (so I don't have to go buy a new phone!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thank you for your suggestions
I have the setting to shut down programs when I press the x in the corner, so no programs are running.
Yours shuts down too? I think it is ridiculous! You pay $200 some dollars for a phone and have to take the battery out b/c it freezes? It is getting pretty annoying, especially when I have to make back to back phone calls or am trying to get a couple things done.
I was able to adjust the lightness settings, so the screen is bright all the time instead of being dull. I haven't had a chance to test it in sunlight yet. (It's been raining here, and I work in an office)
I do have my email pushed to my phone, but I just can't send anything out. I tried adjusting the settings, and even deleted the email account and then added it again. I'm not sure what else to do.
Again, I really appreciate you trying to help. I didn't think that getting a smart phone would require so much work and research to get it to act like I want it, which is nice easy push button intuitive. Instead, everything is so complicated!

Pushing the X button doesn't necessarily shut down the program, it may simply minimize it. That's why I suggested using the task manager to ensure that all programs are properly closed. I would have thought that windows would have figured out task management by now, but that's why they have the task manager built in. The phone will lock up only when it runs low on main memory which is likely due to too many programs running in the background. With a regular check of my running programs I find that my phone may lock up only once a week at worst.
regarding your Hotmail, do you have the box "send immediatley" checked? Otherwise you need to tap send/receive to send.
As for the screen brightness, I find mine hard to see in direct sunlight but it's mainly due to the shiny screen protector that's on my screen
The phone is a bit daunting to start off with and I have run WM2003, WM5, WM6, WM6.1 and now this Samsung with WM6.5. be patient as this phone can do alot and the best part is, if you invest the time into it, you can customize your phone to the way you like it, not some arbitrary user interface like some of the others. BTW.... stop reading about flashing the ROM and editing the registry for now. Just play with your settings and the settings of each program to get them working the way you want them to. If you are going to start cooking, I'd like chocolate chip cookies please!
AND back it up before you go too far so that if you screw it up badly, you have a back up to go back to.
.

I will start using the task manager from now on.
I do have the send immediately box checked.
I'm trying to be patient lol, but i gotta have it now! Like I said before I have had the phone since March, but have been unable to do a lot of customizing. I am not sure about downloading themes, b/c I don't understand what a lot of them are.
Is there a place just to download themes?

Downloading themes means that you are changing the user interface of the phone iteself. first you need to decide which User interface program you want to use, download and install the trial, then search for a theme you like and download and install that as well. Guess what.... more customizing! Are you not happy with the Samsung Today interface that comes with the phone? or are you looking for a completely different experience?
Themes are like wall paper for the user interface program.... eye candy. Every user interface is about showing you pertinent information at a glance on the screen without the need to go digging into apps for that info. different user interfaces will also require differing levels of customization based upon which programs you have already loaded onto you phone and how you want the user interface (UI) to interact with those programs. This level of customization can be easy or hard depending upon the UI, so be prepared for more playing around. Add different themes which will then require more customizing as a theme is esssentially a customization of the UI. Differing UIs will also chane how you access programs, how you can group shortcuts to your liking, and the general experience of interacting with your phone.
Windows Mobile is definitely NOT a iphone experience, where how you interact is dictated by the manufacturer. Your phone allows for a huge amount of customizing to make your phone a truly unique experience.
As for your Hotmail acct, I'm not sure what else could be going on with it as it's really simple to set up and it sounds like you got it nailed. Is it connecting at all?

Another idea on your hotmail acct... have you tried sending yourself a test e-mail at work or at home? I know with mine there is never anything in my sent items on my phone and it might make you think nothing got sent.
Just an idea.....

i edited the power settings, so my screen is bright all the time and now i can sort of see it in the sun

erieboatergal said:
i edited the power settings, so my screen is bright all the time and now i can sort of see it in the sun
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd suggest to set it to "Auto"... that way it will be at 100% brightness in direct sunlight while keeping the backlight lower when it's not needed, resulting in a lower battery drain