Database Users

A few questions about the Universal

Ok now i know that some of you guys have had the universal for a while now, and with the recent release on the O2 website, i'm all but certain to jump on it very quickly, but as this will be my first PDA phone, i was wondering if anyone could answer a few quick questions?
Firstly I was told the Universal had IR built in, now on the carphone warehouse site it said it didnt, can someone clear this up (I was told it can even be used as a TV remote, it'd be a novelty, but i can think of more pointless uses for the phone)
Secondly I am planning on using Skype quite a bit, I already have a wireless network set up in my house so should be able to hook up the phone quick and easy, but is it easy to make the phone use the wlan instead of the operator's 3g and gprs to access the net?
Finally I saw somebody mention games running on their phone, whats the deal with these, is win mobile 5 capable of running old dos/early windows games or are they a special format, also would an emmulator work on win mobile 5?
well I hope someone out there can help, I really want the handset, but i'd like these cleared up before i comit to the the O2 max tarif for the next 12 months

hi
1)yeah it has ir (located at the front) but i havent tried the remote apps yet.. (dont need them)
2)yeah skype works ...it also comes preinstalled on imate jasjar (extrom has the setup file)
3)some games work and some dont.. do a search on wm5 compatible apps and games and you can see the BIG list on the site here....
all in all...its the best ppcPE ever...most stable and most sexy

i think i'll be picking one of them up very soon then
the only thing that is still left to know is weither or not the phone will auto select gprs/3g for skype and the net or if i can get the phone to use the wlan instead,
thanks for the info though...

Yes you can use Wlan to get online with internet and also to skype...
Works fine without any prob so far...

Your question about games suggests a belief that Windows Mobile may run old Windows software. The answer to this is a big no - Windows Mobile, Pocket PC, Smartphone and Handheld PC are all based on Windows CE which, although being similar to programme and use, is not "binary-compatible" with the versions of Windows you'll get on a desktop (or laptop) PC. You can get a dos emulator, but it will be slow and clunky. You're better running software designed specifically for Windows Mobile.

Does anyone know if it has the on screen phone pad that supports predictive text? (in addition to the keyboard, and writing recognition bits)
The XDA IIi has it, but from what I've seen the IIs doesn't. Does the exec?

I assume you're talking about the "Phone Pad" SIP?
Yep, My JasJar has it!

fantastic! means i shall be ordering one as soon as my next paycheck lands!

Things that make my JasJar USELESS

If you read my posts you'll see that I'm truly a proponent of working thro issues before lambasting a new product, and in fact you'll see that most issues raised are perfectly solvable with PocketPlus 3's close button and a few more apps. However, I'm now down to a few unresolved issues, and quite frankly I HAVE to tell the world NOT to buy this device until these issues are solved - probably by HTC. The bottom line is that there are not yet enough users to provide the critical mass to solve these issues, and one desperaely checks all the JJ forums daily only to find so few new posts it looks like it'll be many many months before the device is usable. What makes matters worse is that HTC don't seem to give a damn - we don't see them on the forums helping us early adopters AT ALL, their own forums do not even have a JJ/universal section - and you get fewer replies on there than you do here! It's shocking!:
1) BT unreliable: Turns itself off. Even when on, a call can come in and you cannot answer. Highly unpredictable so U generally miss the call whilst driving using your knees to steer, battling to open the JJ with one hand, and pumping your BT button with the other. I've battled with Gtec and Jabra BT devices - this IS a JJ issue!
2) GPRS/UMTS not always-on: The whole principle of GPRS was always-on, and UMTS brought us always-on broadband. Instead we have a situation where every app that wants to go on-line establishes a connection, does its thing, and drops the carrier when finishes. The best way to explain is how dial-up used to feel; too much hassle to bother booking those movie tickets on-line, yet once you had always-on broadband you didn't EVER queue at the moveis again! Broadband and wireless has always been more about always-on than about the access. Anton Tomov's GPRS Keep Alive does not solve this on the JJ.
3) No decent PIM: This is a 3-function convergent device; phone, on-line and PIM. The built-in PIM is SO awfully BAD that it defies comprehension. Psion Series 3's were way better than this! Yes, 1998 P3's! On WM2003 devices one merely used PI, AF or PB - or any other apps for that matter. Now none work on the JJ! NONE! You heard me - not a single @#$#@%one! The PI dev/CEO blames the JJ blank screens on a ROM bug and is not prepared to put any more effort into it. AF guys are not even starting to promise beta dates yet - and when they do they'll probably battle with the JJ too. All other calendar apps are blank or unusably slow (ie 2 mins to populate the screen).
4) Notification queue management: We ARE getting dups again! Pocket Mechanic is the only app that removes the sddeamon dup, and it does not have a feature to scan and clean up at midnight. This is going to build up to be an issue over time; we'll hit alarm failures, memory and speed issues, and general applicaiton problems all as per our old XDA's. For non-techie geeks, this alone is a reason to run away screaming!
5) No backup: OMG OMG OMG! This is such an appauling situation, that it is beyond my comprehension that M$ didn't run out to rectify it within 1 day of releasing WM5 over FOUR months ago!!!!! Now we have a device that we CANNOT back up. 1 hard reset and you start over. If you're faint-hearted you're simply not going to test new apps. If ur and early-adopter, then get ready for some hard resets (I've done 3 to date). Non-techie-hardcore-geeks will NOT NOT NOT tolerate this. Not for a single nano-second!
I am not a developer/experts on the PPC, but I have been on the bleading edge for some time. I had a perfectly smooth XDA, then XDAII from the day each came out, and I have used forums like this to solve ALL my problems. I also put hours and hours into it. ie I am not a housewife complaining cos I can;t find a menu item - the above issues are serious and a challenge for anyone with less capability than Buzz.

1) Can't help you there
2) Get the GPRS Always on application that can be found here if you search
3) 2 words for you. Pocket Informant
4) Can't believe this is still an issue
5) Use Sprite backup (best) or use the Backup feature of ACTIVESYNC.

NO NO NO!!
2) Anton Tomov's "GPRS always on" does not work fo this
3) PI fails on JJ within 2 days; blank calendar views which Alex (PI CEO) says is a ROM bug. Honestly if PI worked I would forgive ALL the rest; When it does work PI in VGA is AWESOME.
4) Queue dups definite - but I do concede that it may be a result of PocketPlus301, aeRepeatAlarms, TotalOmmander, or spb GPRS monitor. Havn't had time 2 test 1x1
5) Sprite themselves say it does not work on wm5, and you can find out the hard way by trying to restore. Ditto for sunnysoft. I agree that AS managed contacts etc, BUT I want to backup a state so I can debug apps
<submitted from my JJ - ClubiMate forums do NOT work from a JJ!!>

3, 4 and 5 are Windows Mobile 5 issues, not i-mate issues, so it's a little unfair IMO to reject the JasJar based on just issues 1 and 2. All WM5 devices have these problems. Two of those issues might be solved in future device releases by inlcuding Pocket Informant and a backup util (once one compatible with WM5 is released - there is none yet), but for now, there's not much that can be done while we wait for solutions.
Also, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for MS to fix the duplicates issues. This has been a problem for a long time now. The JasJar is a great device, but we have to accept the fact that it will be a while before we can start using it (and other WM5 devices) to the level we had gotten used to with WM 2003 and 2003 SE.

You buy a new device AND a new OS.
A little patience please.
But the GPRS always on (MSN) is also urgent for me.
Huib

Most annoying Universal Faults/Bugs --> Post Yours!

Here's mine
Model: MDA Pro
ROM/Radio/ExtRom: 1.12.42WWE | 1.00.02 | 1.12.126WWE
Design Flaws
No external display. Many cheapie prepay phones have this, why didn't the universal get one?
Usability Issues
When closed and Off, phone does not actually ring until 3rd ring. Leaving just 3 rings to answer it. Most calls hence go to voicemail due to not enough time left to answer.
When closed, and someone rings, the external start/end call buttons dont light up so I cant see which one is green(answer call) and which one is red(end call). 50% of the time I press the wrong one sending the caller to voicemail!
No simple, built in way to close rather than 'minimise' applications
Built in contacts app and calendar still unusable. MS: please just give up and buy Web IS !!
Software Bugs
Sometimes 2 of the wifi icons dissapear from the 'connections' tab under settings requiring a soft reset.
Wifi often fails to connect, needs switching off and then back on again, then it sees AP.
Loses the mobile network signal occasionally, for no reason (i.e even in 4 bar signal areas)
I'll add more as I remember them. But HTC/MS are getting better, the hardware and initial ROMs of the MDA Pro are worlds ahead of those on my XDA IIs (which was totally unusable initially).
Having a low battery means that device switches on every 5 mins to tell you about the low battery thus causing lower battery. Tell me once and then goto sleep! Or tell me once for 10%, once for 5% etc
If software causes the unit to switch on (in order to issue a notification) the same software should switch it off again after, i.e dont wait for the default 'not being used' timeout.
Nigel

Grrrrr
Ok .. I have an M5000 on orange, I have owned it for almost a week. My Rom/Radio gubbins are whatever Orange lock it at. My biggest complaints are:
1) Service Plans - There doesn’t seem to be a network in the UK that offers a service plan (more data, less voice) suited for the device. A trick was missed here I think!
2) My manual talks of GPRS counters and graphs.. My phone does not have any such features. All the more relevant given my 1st point and that the price per MB is horrendous on most networks.
3) Tolerance - My unit needs a reset at least twice a day. Sometimes because it can’t find GPRS coverage, sometimes coz it’s just slow. Back in the day when i purchased my 1st IPAQ I had to reset that a few times a day. I have been off in UIQ land for the past few years and I am surprised that this far into product evolution you die hard windows mobile/PPC fans have been putting up with the same crap for years. You are perfect customers and a tolerant bunch ;-).
4) Incoming call delay – I read that this is fixed in later roms. I tried to install a JASJAR rom and failed. My phone is locked. Blastit !
5) Windows Mobile Media Player 10 – a pointless piece of software, how do I delete it
6) Speed – In between reboots my unit is inconsistently slow. I have tried all of the points suggested in this forum aside from the rom updates (I cant do that).
7) Email – The email client is dire. I use IMAPS and SSL SMTP. Everything is find on mail accounts with low numbers of messages in ( < 100 ). The wheels fall off very quickly if you ask the client to download mail from a mbox with a few thousand messages in and lots of folders. So far I have lots a mail account twice and left it saying “updating folders” for 3 hours while connected via wifi.
8) Email Again – Like I said .. I use IMAPS and SSL SMTP. I use self signed certs. The 1st time I created my mail accounts and connected the unit asked me if I wanted to proceed with the self signed cert shenanigans. After that I was not asked. When I look for the certs in the certificates app they are not there. Where are they?

>1) Service Plans - There doesn’t seem to be a network in the UK that offers a service plan (more data, less voice) suited for the device. A trick was missed here I think!
Agreed, t-mobile with web-n-walk are the closest, but poor 3G coverage and no possibility to upgrade bundled data from 40MB (other than £1/MB Pay-as-you-go) + unused data not carried over to next month are the main issues.
>2) My manual talks of GPRS counters and graphs.. My phone does not have any such features. All the more relevant given my 1st point and that the price per MB is horrendous on most networks.
You should have found an application called 'spb GPRS Monitor' on the CD?? install this after having got the machine connected via activesync and you'll have the missing part of the puzzle. This is somet else that should be included within the OS -- MS please buy spb !
>4) Incoming call delay – I read that this is fixed in later roms. I tried to install a JASJAR rom and failed. My phone is locked. Blastit !
Indeed, phone should have never gotten to market with this major bug.
>7) Email – The email client is dire. I use IMAPS and SSL SMTP. Everything is find on mail accounts with low numbers of messages in ( < 100 ). The wheels fall off very quickly if you ask the client to download mail from a mbox with a few thousand messages in and lots of folders. So far I have lots a mail account twice and left it saying “updating folders” for 3 hours while connected via wifi.
Webis mail is an improvement, but still not great. My main issue with imap is the inability to set a specific imap root folder. My mail is served from my linux box at home, and there is stuff other than mail in my user directory - I dont want it finding all this stuff (at all!) Yeah, I know you can tell it to sync only specific folders, but initially it tries to sync the lot. I gave up with imap and use pop3 now. Perhaps push email availability will fix this.
Nigel

@veletron
O2 has a tariff called Data 36 for around £16.50 per month for 36MB and voice calls are on a pay as you go basis (max 25p per minute).

I agree with most item you guys mentioned especially about the phone's ringing late than the actual incoming call. If I carry JJ, on that particular day I would miss most of my calls due to that.
Here is the bug I consider annoying and hopefully they get fixed soon:
1. The Caller ID sent to the BT headset (still number instead of contact name). Have not heard anything yet till now. Dunno until when they're going to fix this.
2. When used in PDA/tablet mode, there is no hardware button for both of the softkeys that are being introduced in WM5. Pretty annoying. Other hardware buttons on the side are mostly dedicated buttons. I have to sacrifice the record button and assign it to click the OK.
3. If you have not found this one out yet. please try it with your JJ/Universal. With a SD card inside the slot, use one finger, pull it out by moving the edge slowly (without pushing it in to release it). The SD card will come out!
I was pretty :`( with this, but when the SD card inside the slot, even I shake the JJ it will not come out. At least we have to be extra careful with this.

jah said:
@veletron
O2 has a tariff called Data 36 for around £16.50 per month for 36MB and voice calls are on a pay as you go basis (max 25p per minute).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly... 36Mb is pretty poor, A few hours of streaming monkey radio, some GRIB files, email and web pages etc.. and I am stuffed....
I have had to jump through hoops just to get something half decent. I ended up with a 400MB a month add on but only after I signed up on a business tariff as a sole trader.
The guys at expansys were selling the JJ with an orange all you can eat (1GB per month) data card sim in it. While he told me voice calls would work he could not confirm that that would always be the case, when I spoke with orange they told me it would never work.

For me the most annoying thing is that the Jasjar in about 20% of the cases freezes upon arrival of a new SMS. You know this makes the thing so very unreliable. You never know when the unit has froozen and find out only when you need to use the unit again. Then you start wondering that don't know how many people tried to contact you while the Jasjar was lying frozen, unnoticed.
Kind Regards

I have no complaints at all, i have it exactly as i want it, now Lakeridge have sorted the screen switch time to be instant on wisbar i am happy, I have the following installed
Wisbar Advance 2 (newest release)
Pocket Informant (newest WM5 Release)
Pocket Breeze
Dinarsoft HandyMenu & Launcher & Switcher
Expea2 Theme
Blank Black Wallpaper
The Show and Hide Bottom Bar App (Assigned to a custom Wisbar Icon)
PSShutxp
FlexWallet 2006
CodeWallet Pro 5
Resco Keyboard Pro 4.34
Resco Explorer 2005 v5.20
I have 27.74MB Storage & 17.77MB Program Memory Free
It has taken 5 Hard resets, and much hair pulling and waiting for new releases, but my JasJar is now stable as hell!
Now if only someone could figure out how to display animated gifs as caller ID's i would be as happy as a P.I.S!!!! at last
Richard

jah said:
@veletron
O2 has a tariff called Data 36 for around £16.50 per month for 36MB and voice calls are on a pay as you go basis (max 25p per minute).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aye, I am aware of this. I was gonna go with o2 on data 200 originally, but they buggered up my order, charged me for the device but never sent it, performed a total of 15 credit checks, screwed my credit history, and then started sending me final demands for data200 even though the contract had already been cancelled. Took 4 weeks to get credit record straightened out, and £139.99 for xda refunded, and a further 2 weeks to get them to realise that I had returned the sim within the usual 14 days.
Ruddy Nightmare, after that I dont consider any O2 products to be worth a mention!! I am a long time contract customer, and they were not even interested in keeping the business by way of money off sweetners!
Besides.... 40MB+200 anynet mins still costs much much more on O2 than on t-mobile ;-)
Nigel

My Universal is losing email accounts. I think memory is not safe in WM5!
See
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?p=202617&highlight=mail+accounts#202617

Have seen much of that discussed above on my new T-Mobile MDA Pro, however in addition to the overly long call delay, with extremely heavy use over the past month I have observed the following two rather disconcerting "critical" bugs:
- occasionally, the GSM system loses the network despite the network being present and displays a "no service" exclaimation mark next to the service twig. No problem here, except that it does not recover from this state even if the network comes back, or if the location (ie. cell) is changed. For example, this happened in central London today, and after 4 hours of monitoring, it was still lost to the world...
- very occasionally, I've seen my little green service light flashing happily with the clamshell closed, appearing to indicate all was well. However, upon powering up the MDA Pro, I've discovered it had crashed, requiring a reset.
This is serious, because in both cases, my MDA Pro had irrecoverably gone out of network service for a considerable time, during which time any incoming calls had been lost.
In short, I cannot depend upon this device for voice, although I'm happy to live with these issues for data only. So it's a mini laptop... and I still have to get/carry another phone and SIM.
Bosseye

Have seen much of that discussed above on my new T-Mobile MDA Pro, however in addition to the overly long call delay, with extremely heavy use over the past month I have observed the following two rather disconcerting "critical" bugs:
- occasionally, the GSM system loses the network despite the network being present and displays a "no service" exclaimation mark next to the service twig. No problem here, except that it does not recover from this state even if the network comes back, or if the location (ie. cell) is changed. For example, this happened in central London today, and after 4 hours of monitoring, it was still lost to the world...
- very occasionally, I've seen my little green service light flashing happily with the clamshell closed, appearing to indicate all was well. However, upon powering up the MDA Pro, I've discovered it had crashed, requiring a reset.
This is serious, because in both cases, my MDA Pro had irrecoverably gone out of network service for a considerable time, during which time any incoming calls had been lost.
In short, I cannot depend upon this device for voice, although I'm happy to live with these issues for data only. So it's a mini laptop... and I still have to get/carry another phone and SIM.
Bosseye

bosseye said:
This is serious, because in both cases, my MDA Pro had irrecoverably gone out of network service for a considerable time, during which time any incoming calls had been lost.
In short, I cannot depend upon this device for voice, although I'm happy to live with these issues for data only. So it's a mini laptop... and I still have to get/carry another phone and SIM.
Bosseye
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree, the Universal is not really a phone its is a PDA/mini tablet. There are lots of people, however, here and at Howard Forums who think the Universal is as good as SE/Nokia phones.
When I had my first Vodafone was about 15 pages long. Hundreds of GPRS/UMTS connections and disconnections. Does not sound right to me! Sure is something funny with the JasJar radio.

bosseye said:
- occasionally, the GSM system loses the network despite the network being present and displays a "no service" exclaimation mark next to the service twig.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
I have seen this also, hopefully a future radio revision will sort it out. I have noticed that even with this (!) mark, the phone *IS* still in service. Some 3rd party progs dont check for a network connection before they try and send data, these still work even with the (!) WiFi is disabled so its not that. I see the same also with wifi, it says 'connecting' but it is in fact connected!!
Basically, the built in stuff is using an API to query the phone about its connection state, and its getting back a 'false'. Stuff that does not bother to query does not get the 'false' and thus works.
Its a pain in the @rse, I think that the display icon displays its state based on the same API call, so perhaps the whole lot is linked together. The status of the device is not being updated correctly.
Oh... it will also ring at times when it is displaying the (!)...
All supposition of course!
Mine will usually come back, if it does not then switching from auto to gsm or umts and then back kicks it into gear. I.e a soft reset is not usually required.
Mine is an MDA Pro flashed with the O2 original ROM.
Nigel

On my O2 Exec, I find that the backlight often isn't working when I switch it on. I have to go into the Settings, select Backlight, and then uncheck and recheck one of the settings there.
I had the same problem with the Ipaq I used to have, although it seemed to happen less regularly.

Calendar\Task alarms dissapear, no Notification with Alarm
the WM "Notification Que" Issue
After 3 weeks of usage of my Qtek9000:
- all the Calendar notifications dissapeared (no text, no sound);
- the Alarms did have sound and vibra, but no text and Notification softbutton on the screen;
- alarms sounds could appear on their selfs on a random time and no Text on the screen.
I've searched the forum and it learned out that it is a Notification Que Issue.
It looks that upon a time, that que is being oversized or some mess (duplicates?) happened in it.
So, after that the "Notification Que" Issue appears.
cross-posted: http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?p=236733#236733

After trying to use my XDA Exec as my main device I had to finally just use it for PIM, eBooks & web (with Opera) and I used a Moto v3X as my main mobile/cell phone as the call quality of the Exec is poor relative to other standard 3G phones and I don't like the delay in altering you to an incoming call. But even as a eBook reader mini tablet I suffered because of the poor battery life and the need to reboot every two days. So I have now gone back to using my Nokia 9500 and I feel so much less stress now! I can't wait for the 3G Nokia Communicator.

Anyone got a fix for this?
lost wifi wep keys every time i soft reset? - keep on having to eneter the bloody wep key!!!!

Hi All,
I am using O2 XDA Exec. here is the system info:
ROM Version: 1.13.82 WWE
ROM date: 11/30/05
Radio version: 1.04.02
Protocol version 42.37.P8
ExtROM version: 1.13.188 WWE
Since my last ROM update from O2 the machine is extremely fast. I got of O2 and installed corporate one and never looked back. I laways have 28MB program and 28MB storage and no hacks involved. I have 512 MB SD card (getting smaller need bigger one).
Incoming calls: always answers the after the first ring.
pressing the phone button brings the dialer up in a split second.
I have buletooh car kit and always connect with my Exec for at least 1 hour at a time twice day without dropping a single connection ever.
WiFi extremly robust and never had problem connecting to mine or a paid one and it is beautiful used with SKYPE to make cheap phoen calls abroad.
I hardly need to reset the machine unless an application behaves badly. I just dont install unnecessary applications, or pretty ones (it is a matter of taste this one)
There is no proper close for application, it would be nice but hardly an issue to me (only a couple of taps away), actually some application I want them running.
Never had problems with call connections, and I travel between London and Swindon everyday.
As for Battery, when not using the display I switch it off (I can still get calls).
I leave a USB cable at work for recharging and a a car charger in the car. I also bought a spare battery. I am never out of battery (ofr my kind of usage).
All applications are standard and I use them heavily, appointments, alarms, contacts (2550 names of all the company employees), emails, word, and especially presentation (power point) and they do the job adequately.
I donwloaded and tried (with intention to buy) many application that might replace the standard ones but I always unable to justify spending the money as they don't do anything special (prettier maybe).
the only application I have is
WiFiFoFum for scanning wireless networks.
SBP GPRS Monitor (O2 gives me 100K a month free - wehehehe)
Adobe Reader 2.0
Microsoft Reader
PocketTV
CodeWallet Pro 5.0
Inesoft Cash organizer 05 Premium
Skookum for RSS news
and of course SKYPE 2.0
and with mobile google and a list of mobile websites in my Internet Explorer favourites and skookum I can get all the news and info that I need.
What I don't like;
no front screen to see who is calling without opening the device (this would have been a killer to me).
A-GPS or even a full blown GPS would have been very nice indeed.
I bought themachine 4 months ago from O2 high street; now hwyI don' thave these bugs people talk about, is there different versions of bad batches? I am not the only one I met quite few people who also get surprised when we read the bugs. Strange; could it be the way people use the device?
Thanks

SO MANY PROBLEMS......BUT MY MAIN ONES ARE
PHONE DROPPING CALLS WHEN DRIVING..UPGRADED TO LASTEST ROM STILL DOING IT ........I REALLY WISH I COULD FIX THIS...DOES ANY ONE ELSE HAVE THIS PROBLEM?
CASE MARKS...
STUTTERING RING TONES
ANSWER DELAYS
I THINK HTC SHOULD DO THE RIGHT THING AND RECALL THE LOT OF THEM MY OLD XDA 2 WAS A GREAT PHONE....THIS IS A PIECE OF CRAP.

Does Universal have bad hardware or software? should I buy?

:?:
I am just about to purchase a new PDA. I am deciding between the Wizard (o2 xda mini s) and Universal (o2 xda exec).
The universal seems to have everything I want, but I am scared by the posts here.
So I have one basic question for you guys:
Do you think:
1. There are basic hardware problems which can't be resolved until there is a new version
2. It is just a buggy software/firmware issue, and this will be fixed by the current and future firmware upgrades ?
If it is 2, I will not mind buying it ?
thx

Only a personal viewpoint, but my view is that most of the problems are being caused by software that claims to support WM5.0 - but the reality is that although they do support it, not all software is as robust as it should be. I have installed and uninstalled a whole range of applications (purchased and trial versions) - and found that many cause lock-ups etc. After trial and error I have settled on a PIM (Pocket Informant) and a closer/launcher (GSPocketMagic) that work reliably, do not cause my Universal to lock up and do not seem to have any effect on system speed. Others I have tried may cause lock-ups or at least really slow the system performance down significantly. Not sure if others have found the same - just what I have found by trial and error. Hope it helps

that is a very interesting point. I was very influenced by this article:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=35177
Also it seems if you read aximsite re: dell x51v, that Wm5 is not as compatable with wm2003se software as people think.
What also seems to be adding to the issues is that the service providers (o2, orange, etc.) are NOT aware of this and are installing applications as standard (e.g. battery meter) which actually cause lags in answering phone calls as they are not correctly for Wm5.
I guess the question is now, does the jasajr work fine when all bad the sowftare is uninstalled, and is it possible to uninstall monitoring software that service providers have installed ?

I just bought mine on Monday... great piece of kit!
If you are just going to use the software that came with it you shouldn't have any problems at all (i haven't anyway) all is working well.
I think as soon as WM2005 becomes more established and more developers cater for it the glitches will go, like NH said, it's more 3rd party software that's causing the problems

hey budo, which service provider did you buy from ?
how is surfing the internet using 3g (the real reason I want to buy it, as I will keep my normal mobile for phone calls)
rgds

My position is clear. WM5 itself has bugs and does things you don't expect. Here are just four examples of WM5 probelms which are nothing to do with third-party apps:
- If the Camera app is left on it heats-up the devices as it drains the battery
- On downloading email over GPRS/3G the Messaging app can freeze
- Media stored on the SD card when used by apps when the "suspend" option is used can cause the app to fail when you re-start your device
- WM5 can report it has insufficient memory even when it has 20MB of RAM free
- Memory leakage means you need to reset the device daily
- If you do reset it is possible to loose settings and data if this data has not been written back to the persistent storage from the real RAM

O2, and they give you 3 options for "install type" so if you want all the bells and whistles you can switch it on, or if you want just the basic software you can switch that on lol...
I have to sort my internet out for 3G, needs to be config for some reason.... but from what i have seen from GPRS it's top dog esp with sites that cater for mobile internet....

this is not good jah, i am put off again. although this could be fixed with a firmware update if htc provide that kind of thing. Anyone know their record on this for other devices ?

hey budo. If 3g is turned on, it should use it automatically for connection, even if it says gprs. that is normally how all my 3g phones have worked when 'bluetoothed' with a pda.

Colonel
I assume you have seen this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=33871
I am not trying to put you off but just want to make sure you have a balanced perspective. I have an Exec and all I can say is that it is "high maintenance" like all M$ based systems

thanks, i'll read.
I'm not sure I totaly agree with you about M$ stuff. I had a dell x50v and currently have an orange m500, and they are perfectly reliable and low mainentance. It does seem however that the hardware people have rushed out wm5 systems without really doing their research and I am sure M$ is responsible for a load of bugs. Roll on WM5se ......

colonel said:
hey budo, which service provider did you buy from ?
how is surfing the internet using 3g (the real reason I want to buy it, as I will keep my normal mobile for phone calls)
rgds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sux. This pixel doubling issue means that you don;t get anywhwere near the estate you expected. U can switch to Oz VGA but that costs a 5 min reset either way - easier to get to a PC! The other issue is that the IE browser is SO bad that 3G surfing feels like GPRS - in fact I used to fire up my laptop just to check that I had a good 3G signal in the area and was indeed surfing on UMTS!! Issue is that browser renders slowly, and cache's so badly that it actually reloads the whole friggin page when u go 'back'. I could have my laptop working on a 3G card right alongside my JJ on 3G, type in xda-developers and press 'go', and my laptop would give me the screen in seconds, whilst my JJ would take a full minute!! We're taking over 10x slower. Also, many sites do not render in PIE - blank drop boxes etc. In SA that's movie booking gone, not a SINGLE TV guide site works, and altho my private bank works, my company bank does not. However, terminal services in VGA is awesome...

craigiecraigie4
I don't really have problem with 3G and PIE. I use T-mobile and o2 in the UK and the rendering etc is reasonable given that I did not expect laptop like performance on my Exec. The Exec in corp mode with GSPMagic+ is very quick.

Any good reasons not to get an Atom Life?

I'm getting close do a desicion, and that will probably be to buy an Atom Life, not wait for the I-Mate Ultimate 7150. But is there anything that should make me rethink that? I have owned an original Atom for more than a year, so I know about the not so good screen, and I know that the battery time isn't all that great (but I have extra batteries). But the 3.5G, the fast CPU and the small form factor is what's winning me. Any suggestions?

y dnt u go for O2 Flame ??
i knw its a bit huge !! but its really good!!

No HSDPA. Slower CPU. And I prefer smaller form factor to bigger screen, basically.

man buy d flame

atom life will ruin your life

You should look at the date of threads... I have had the Life more than a month now, and I'm very satisfied with it. A few early problems turned out to be software that didn't want to play nice with WM6.

I have had my Atom Life for about 4 months now. I upgraded it to the latest WM6 ROM found on the O2 web site. My previous device was an I-Mate Jam.
I don't use a lot of the advanced features in the Atom Life, because of my current Telco provider (T-Mobile USA). So, I'm only using Edge, not 3G or 3.5G. I'm also not using VTCall or the FM radio. I do use WiFi and this seems to work well, although not as convenient as being on a PC. I do use Skype on occasion (under WiFi) and that has worked well too. I have a stereo blutooth earphone by Motorola that works great. I'm checking email (POP3) and going to the Internet, no problem. I bought Spb Mobile Shell for launching application and that's probably the smartest buy I've ever made for my device. I almost never use the stylus for most standard operations, thanks to this great application. I also use Microsoft Voice Command. With this, no need to ever look at your screen or fumble with searching for contacts: making phone calls and launching applications are a cinch. I also have a bunch of other applications (various databases, MetrO, PDF reader), all working flawlessly. The camera is adequate. It's never going to replace a real camera, but for quick shots it's actually pretty decent. I don't use my PDA as a major input device. Therefore, I mostly use the build-in keyboard for typing things in and that's fine for me. I do travel extensively overseas and the Atom Life has worked flawlessly on any network it's been connected to.
The only major issue I have with the Atom Life. It doesn't notify me when I have a voicemail waiting for me. Technical support was useless. They basically told me: "sorry, we don't support the Atom Life in the US". I do get notification for missed calls and SMS, but not for voicemail. I have searched the Internet every which way and found no solution, except for a recommendation to change my Radio ROM (I have no clue on how to do this and I don't want to brick my phone). If anyone has any ideas on how to solve this problem, let me know. I will be forever grateful!!
Otherwise, I am fairly pleased with the Atom life, as you may have guessed.