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Many users, including Kevin Rose from Digg.com, have dumped Windows Mobile phones for the sake of other platforms, because they had impression that these phones are slow, much too slow. This impression results from the fact that in Windows Mobile Pocket PC edition applications continue running in the background after user pressed (i.e. tapped with stylus) "X" button of the given program. This is counter-intuitive and makes people think that applications were closed. Big number of applications running in background, of which users are unaware, results in slow operation.
"HTC X-Button" application is included in latest Pocket PC phones manufactured by HTC and recently it even surfaced on the Internet in form of "HTC X-Button.CAB" file, that can be installed:
... and can run in any Pocket PC device (no just HTC-manufactured):
Unfortunately due to legal reasons we cannot publish "HTC X-Button.CAB" application, but we hereby ask developers to develop similar (or the same) program! HTC has proven that not only it is possible but also, that such program works in non-HTC manufactured Pocket PC phones (we tested it). It is not for us to judge how difficult it is to develop such application, but certainly for sure it is possible as HTC shows.
By the way: it is worth noticing that HTC really cares about customer satisfaction because it includes this HTC X-Button application with their latest Pocket PC phones. Such (at first glance) small things really make a difference...
from msmobiles.com
who can get it ?
digifan said:
Many users, including Kevin Rose from Digg.com, have dumped Windows Mobile phones for the sake of other platforms, because they had impression that these phones are slow, much too slow. This impression results from the fact that in Windows Mobile Pocket PC edition applications continue running in the background after user pressed (i.e. tapped with stylus) "X" button of the given program. This is counter-intuitive and makes people think that applications were closed. Big number of applications running in background, of which users are unaware, results in slow operation.
"HTC X-Button" application is included in latest Pocket PC phones manufactured by HTC and recently it even surfaced on the Internet in form of "HTC X-Button.CAB" file, that can be installed:
... and can run in any Pocket PC device (no just HTC-manufactured):
Unfortunately due to legal reasons we cannot publish "HTC X-Button.CAB" application, but we hereby ask developers to develop similar (or the same) program! HTC has proven that not only it is possible but also, that such program works in non-HTC manufactured Pocket PC phones (we tested it). It is not for us to judge how difficult it is to develop such application, but certainly for sure it is possible as HTC shows.
By the way: it is worth noticing that HTC really cares about customer satisfaction because it includes this HTC X-Button application with their latest Pocket PC phones. Such (at first glance) small things really make a difference...
from msmobiles.com
who can get it ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have it runnig in my wizard .i have extrated from another device rom.nice
but is integrated in the rom.as soon i got time i will make a cab.
i also got htc backup but is not runnig yet.
Which device did you get it from? Herald?
doedoe said:
Which device did you get it from? Herald?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
funny enough it was from a prophet rom.
Which ROM? I would also like to extract this application.
This HTC app is nothing new. There are plenty other legal free and commercial task managers out there.
Here is an excellent example: MagicButton.
It lets you close apps by clicking the X as well as switch between apps like Alt + TAB on PC.
There is also WizBar and SPB TodayPlus etc.
There is no need to extract anything from ROM or to re-invent the wheel (unless you wont to hone your programming skills).
Also I am quite curios as to how MS will respond to this move. According to a blog of one of their developers (don't remember the link now) they care about this "smart-minimize" crap so much, at first they didn't let manufacturers add any app in to ROM that had as much as an EXIT option in the menu. According to them "user should not manage memory".
levenum said:
This HTC app is nothing new. There are plenty other legal free and commercial task managers out there.
Here is an excellent example: MagicButton.
It lets you close apps by clicking the X as well as switch between apps like Alt + TAB on PC.
There is also WizBar and SPB TodayPlus etc.
There is no need to extract anything from ROM or to re-invent the wheel (unless you wont to hone your programming skills).
Also I am quite curios as to how MS will respond to this move. According to a blog of one of their developers (don't remember the link now) they care about this "smart-minimize" crap so much, at first they didn't let manufacturers add any app in to ROM that had as much as an EXIT option in the menu. According to them "user should not manage memory".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is about choice and prefences.as how they will react? how do they do react to the stuff we been doing to roms for years in this site?
im suprised tey havent shut down this site yet! or maybe they are learning from it!!!!!!
Well there is a big difference between this site and a company like HTC.
After all this is an unofficial gathering of enthusiasts and MS probably doesn't want to come down to hard on potential consumers even when they tweak ROMs here and there.
HTC on the other hand is one of the largest mobile OEMs in the world that works closely with MS (according to an article I recently read) so it comes across as sort of betrayal, don't you think?
It is 110% right move for us users though.
I find closing applications to be slower than smart minimising them. A Microsoft blog I read when WM5 was launched specifically stated that devices work faster when minimising, providing you have suffecient program memory (not lacking on the Prophet). This is because understandebly Windows takes much longer to open an application than maximising it.
Once in while I just end all programs and give the phone a restart (power off and power on rather than soft reset).
Yes that is the theory, but note the providing you have sufficient program memory bit.
Media player alone when active can eat 5-7 MB (which is why I never use it).
Unfortunately program memory is still short since maximum devices have is "64 MB" which if you are very careful can leave you with 30MB free on the Prophet after reset.
Yes, maximizing apps is faster than loading, but MS forgot a critical point:
There is no easy way to switch between minimized apps built in to WM which only makes things worth. Once you minimize something not only does it keep taking memory, but you also need to go all the way through Settings->System->Memory->Running apps to reactivate or get rid of it.
Sorry to drag this thread towards an argument, but there is no question in my mind that this is one of those cases where MS made a huge mistake and instead of fixing it now trying to sell it as a "feature".
When WM OS runs out of memory, it automatically closes the unused (minimized) apps. It just sees no need to close them if there are unused RAM available anyway, so apps are "cached" in case they will be used again.
You can easely switch between "current set" of apps - just reduce the number of "fixed" icons in the start menu. I leave only Help there and entire Windows Start menu becomes a large MRU list, like on smartphones - and I easely use it to switch between active apps.
The problem of "running slow" lies with badly designed apps. Actually, application should never consume significant CPU resources when lieing in background, but some bad developers forget about this fact.
All built-in applications behave nice. I have a process CPU utilization viewer, and can easely see that these apps when minimized dont even use 1% of processor time.
hello everyone ! I just got my Mogul about 2 days ago and im a freakin mess on trying to figure out how to use it. here are things i need your help with....
#1 how do i transfer my contacts onto my PC? I installed the program it came with but i cant figure out how to copy my contacts to my PC.
#2 I tried to upgrade my rom(i dont even know what rom is,lol) and before i updated the rom it read ROM VERSION 2.09.651.3 AND THE ROM DATE WAS 6/14/07. after the update was complete it still read the same thing !! And the mogul appeared to be slower, screens wouldnt open fast or shut down fast etc etc. (which rom should I use??)
#3 THE CUBE, I was checking out the cube for my mogul but i wasnt sure what the benifet was of useing this program...its looks a lot for user friendly and cooler then what the mogul has now....(how do I install the cube into my Mogul?)
#4 lastly, when my phone shuts off i have to push the power button to wake it up everytime...is there any way i can just touch the screen or push a face button to turn it back on?
any help would be awsome
stacy
anyone????????
I'd suggest you visit ppcgeeks.com titan forum. Many more titan users over there and there are several custom roms available.
As far as answering your questions....
1. Not sure, i don't use activesycn for anything other than transferring programs to by phone to install.
2. I've posted a few custom roms on the ppcgeeks ftp and have had numerous compliments. My most current rom is UTCG.2.2.2 and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with it. I don't add in all the extra "crap" some one people do. I use a stable base rom and update some of the features as well as tweak it for performance. My most current ROM runs with ~28mb free ram and is very quick. EDIT: I will post link here shortly.
I'm assuming that you're new to the whole "flashing" thing so I'm uploading a complete file with the rom and flashing software in it right now. I'll update this thread with the direct link to download once it's done.
3. The real cube is not functional on the mogul. There are many hybrid cubes that other members have made. Some are Adobe Flash-Based programs and others are stand-alone programs. I like the idea of the Cube when i got my mogul just like you. But, after messing with it so much and realizing the amount of resources it uses I personally don't think it's worth it. It's just another "gimmick" to compete with the iPhone.
4. I'm not sure why you would want it to "wake-up" by tapping the screen but if this is a necessity than here's how to do it.
Tap "Start" on your mogul.
Tap "Settings"
Tap "System" Tab on the bottom
Tap the "Power" icon
Tap the "Advanced" Tab on the bottom
uncheck the box "On Battery Power: Turn off device if not used for ____"
That will keep the mogul from turning off. BUT, it will also kill your battery really quickly. Personally, i slide by mogul in and out of my pocket all day that it would be a problem if i had it activated by the screen.
You can get my newest rom here:
Download Now
Unzip and run the RomUpdateUtility.exe
utexascg said:
You can get my newest rom here:
Download Now
Unzip and run the RomUpdateUtility.exe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would highly recommend reading the Flashing Basic Guide over at PPCgeeks http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=9927 before attempting any of this.
There are a selection of ROMs available for different needs/tastes, and you'll also need to unlock your phone first (its all in the guide).
But, all this is only necessary if you'd like a customized ROM instead of the stock Sprint release. Most people feel that the custom ROMs perform better, but to be honest, if you don't know what a ROM is or why you want it custom, I'd just leave things as they are. As long as everything works for you, just leave well enough alone.
Now as far as your questions:
1) This is a basic PPC question and not Mogul specific. You need 2 programs installed to do this: Outlook to view/access/edit your personal information (comes on the disc) and Activesync to talk to your device and actually make sure to keep all info in sync (also comes on disc).
Each program will work without the other, but it won't sync your info unless both of them are installed and the device is plugged in.
2) The Sprint releases have bugs. There was an updated ROM (2.16) that caused more problems than it fixed, so they pulled it. Now we're back to 2.09, so that's why nothing changed. There are custom roms that combine the best "fixed bits" of all the releases so far, but don't do these unless you feel comfortable messing with it for now.
3) Cube is a fancy interface designed for the HTC Touch phone. Its supposed to make easy shortcuts for one-fingered use, and has some nifty scrolling 3D effect that they call a "cube" (even tho it has only 3 sides. I guess calling it the "extruded triangle" wouldn't have gone over as well). But, it only works on the touch, so some folks have tried to mimick it by writing their own application that looks just like it. Most of them don't work, or are too slow to be useable, only the real one on the actual device called the "touch" seems to be any good. Its still cute to show off. Not all that functional on the mogul, and I've tried many versions.
4) YES! There's a setting somewhere to wake up on power key only, or for any keypress. The screen touch thing would set it off WAAAY too easily and kill your battery as utexas said. I feel the same way about all the buttons since there are so many that accidentally get pressed when taking it and out of holsters. However, the options is there if you want it.
Good luck!
Your awsome !! could i ask you one more thing? when i want to make a phone call and i go to my contacts list all of my friends names are backwards...meaning that their last name is showin first and this is annoying because i not showing up as it used to in my old filp phone...should i download some sort of firmware to change my contact ist set up??
Dishe said:
I would highly recommend reading the Flashing Basic Guide over at PPCgeeks http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=9927 before attempting any of this.
There are a selection of ROMs available for different needs/tastes, and you'll also need to unlock your phone first (its all in the guide).
But, all this is only necessary if you'd like a customized ROM instead of the stock Sprint release. Most people feel that the custom ROMs perform better, but to be honest, if you don't know what a ROM is or why you want it custom, I'd just leave things as they are. As long as everything works for you, just leave well enough alone.
Now as far as your questions:
1) This is a basic PPC question and not Mogul specific. You need 2 programs installed to do this: Outlook to view/access/edit your personal information (comes on the disc) and Activesync to talk to your device and actually make sure to keep all info in sync (also comes on disc).
Each program will work without the other, but it won't sync your info unless both of them are installed and the device is plugged in.
2) The Sprint releases have bugs. There was an updated ROM (2.16) that caused more problems than it fixed, so they pulled it. Now we're back to 2.09, so that's why nothing changed. There are custom roms that combine the best "fixed bits" of all the releases so far, but don't do these unless you feel comfortable messing with it for now.
3) Cube is a fancy interface designed for the HTC Touch phone. Its supposed to make easy shortcuts for one-fingered use, and has some nifty scrolling 3D effect that they call a "cube" (even tho it has only 3 sides. I guess calling it the "extruded triangle" wouldn't have gone over as well). But, it only works on the touch, so some folks have tried to mimick it by writing their own application that looks just like it. Most of them don't work, or are too slow to be useable, only the real one on the actual device called the "touch" seems to be any good. Its still cute to show off. Not all that functional on the mogul, and I've tried many versions.
4) YES! There's a setting somewhere to wake up on power key only, or for any keypress. The screen touch thing would set it off WAAAY too easily and kill your battery as utexas said. I feel the same way about all the buttons since there are so many that accidentally get pressed when taking it and out of holsters. However, the options is there if you want it.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Contacts can only be listed by Name or Company. You can however edit the contact to change the way the contact is filed in the edit screen there is a field labeled "File as:" it's here that you can change the way the name is displayed in the contact list.
I am currently writing an application for my WM6.1 device (HTC TouchHD), and wondered if anyone had come across a site, or if someone could point me in the right direction for finding a nice way of writing 'finger friendly' applications. By finger friendly, i mean being able to scroll with my fingers and so on. Or if there are any open source applications that I can use as a reference?
I don't particularly want to say what application I'm writing just in case it falls to pieces, but rest assured once it's written it will be put up on here!
Thanks,
evorgevol
I have just found this page which does me for scrolling parts of my application. The main thing I'm having issues with is that I want the main menu interface to resemble windows 7 media center, see here for a video of what effect I'm trying to achieve.
I know it's quite complicated, and I'm not the best programmer in the world, but hopefully I should be able to do it??
Any help will be appreciated. Thanks,
evorgevol
If I understand, you're trying to create an UI with a scrolling list useable with fingers.
Each item in the list, once selected, let appears different choices about this item (IE : a "Appointment" item in the list, when you select it, you have the next appointment displayed....). It that right ?
Doesn't it look like the new WM6.5 today plugin ? If that's you're idea, I'm 100% on your side to develop a today plugin looking like these menus (WM6.5 / WM7 MC) !
(In fact, I'm already searching if somebody could develop something like this : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=3375478)
The one I'm doing is not necessarily for a today page, more for my own application, tho it should be able to be easily used in any other application once the code has been written. I just need a push in the right direction for me to be able to write the code in the first place. I'm also deliberating what format to write my application in, and which ones are available. I will only be supporting from WM6 onwards, tho it could potentially be backwards compatible with 5. Ideal would be silverlight being able to be used, but unfortunately that hasnt been released for mobile yet (it would mean that my application should run on any platform that supports Silverlight).
Try iContact. I suppose the code is open. Also try PockeTwit from google code. Install these apps and if that is the effect you want to achieve, I suggest you grab the code and understand it (that's what I would do if I was in your position)
Hello,
I have 'created' (to an extent) the first Horizontal Theme , based off of the built-in CPR file, for Titanium Homescreens on WM6.5, however I have a setback...
This theme is being developed initially, and probably mainly, for the T-Mobile DASH (HTC Excalibur/S620) which as a 320x240 screen. In order to make this work, i need a very simple background program running. This is what the program should do:
Detect a certain set of pixels on-screen, and check to see if colors match up with predefined values (much like MortScript's "ColorAt()")
If the values match up, swap UP/LEFT and DOWN/RIGHT (to emulate horizontal movement)
likewise, if it detects that the active window is the Desktop/Homescreen, it will Swap
If not, it will not do anything
This program needs to be low RAM usage, and not all that big (which is optimal for every program). The reason I have it check pixels is for people, like myself, who run SmartToolKit , which adds a 'mask layer' over the HomeScreen, making it harder to detect if it is actually the homescreen. If someone can create a better way of doing this, then thank you!
However, my main concern is getting a coder to make this application for me, without it the theme can essentially not exist. More details will be given upon contact.
If you are interested, please PM me or E-Mail me (both are provided by XDA through my profile).
Thank You all!
I am going to work on the actual theme today...
Is there anyone who could make this very simple program for me?
Hey,
I dont know if this is considered 'double posting' since these posts are weeks apart...anyways.
I am in DESPERATE need of some kind person to lend me a hand as far as making really a simple app. I do not have the environment set up for making Windows Mobile applications (i do not have Visual Studio as microsoft insists I do). The app would be:
1- ButtonSwap:
This one will check certain pixels on the screen and use them to confirm if it is the HomeScreen. If it is, then it will swap keys, if not, it wont do anything.
So PLEASE, if someone is willing to do this VERY SIMPLE task, i would be very very grateful!
Sincerely,
Max B.
Cyclonezephyrxz7
I searched and got nothing in the forum about homebrew, so i figured i'd ask about it. Is it possible for us with this phone to do any of the homebrew stuff out there? I have been without my laptop so cannot really try anything yet, but I see articles about little apps and aesthetic changes people are doing to their Samsung and HTC wp7 phones and i want in on it too.
I loved that homebrew community when i had my Palm Pre back in the day and had it hacked to my liking. I really hope we can do this with our phones too. I have looked into it a little but, but i don't think the guys who have done the unlocking and developing for wp7 have used, tried or have access to our phone. I really hope I'm wrong and just haven't had any luck searching for answers, but so far i haven't really found anything specifically stating whether anything works on the DVP yet.
If they have, could someone point me in the right direction and i'll continue learning on my own? If not, then i hope we can some day.
Thanks for any help y'all can provide.
I'm looking to attack this problem from the other end. I'm the developer of one of those "little apps" you mentioned; specifically the one that lets you change the Search function in IE (when you hit the Search button or mis-type a URL).
I'm working with a homebrew library that more-or-less handles HTC, Samsung, and LG, but completely doesn't support Dell. I'd like to get it working with Dell so that
A) You all can use my app
B) More homebrew apps can be written for the DVP
Some questions that I have (answers to any are appreciated):
How can I programmatically identify a Dell phone? (On an HTC, you can check for HKLM\Software\HTC in the registry.)
Does anybody have ProvisionXML working on the Venue Pro yet? (This is a really handy way to make changes to the OS.)
Does anybody have a way to get access to the file system, even read-only, on the Venue Pro?
Thanks a bunch. In the meantime (and possibly helpful to this cause) there's a homebrew project called "Functional Webserver" in the WP7 Hacking forum. It should work on Dell phones (I think) and means you should have at least Socket (networking) APIs. It also gives (read-only) access to the \Windows directory, which may be very useful for getting other stuff...
GoodDayToDie said:
I'm looking to attack this problem from the other end. I'm the developer of one of those "little apps" you mentioned; specifically the one that lets you change the Search function in IE (when you hit the Search button or mis-type a URL).
I'm working with a homebrew library that more-or-less handles HTC, Samsung, and LG, but completely doesn't support Dell. I'd like to get it working with Dell so that
A) You all can use my app
B) More homebrew apps can be written for the DVP
Some questions that I have (answers to any are appreciated):
How can I programmatically identify a Dell phone? (On an HTC, you can check for HKLM\Software\HTC in the registry.)
Does anybody have ProvisionXML working on the Venue Pro yet? (This is a really handy way to make changes to the OS.)
Does anybody have a way to get access to the file system, even read-only, on the Venue Pro?
Thanks a bunch. In the meantime (and possibly helpful to this cause) there's a homebrew project called "Functional Webserver" in the WP7 Hacking forum. It should work on Dell phones (I think) and means you should have at least Socket (networking) APIs. It also gives (read-only) access to the \Windows directory, which may be very useful for getting other stuff...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would like to submit my services to help you get that information... However, I'm not really sure how to get that to you. If you'd be happy to lay out directions so I can get you that information, I'll happily do it on my Dell Venue Pro.
Thanks for the help!
@nabiscuit Thanks for the offer. The first step is making sure your phone is developer-unlocked, so you can side-load (install directly, not from Marketplace) XAP application packages. All homebrew apps are distributed in this way. The official way to do this is to have a Microsoft developer account (http://create.msdn.com/) although for the next few weeks ChevronWP7 should also work.
For the first question, try installing a Registry Viewer or Registry Editor app - there are a number of them available, both on this site and on TouchXperience (I like the TouchXperience one a lot). Go poke around for anything that looks like a distinctive registry key or value. The most likely place is under HKLM. You could also just do a registry search (the better apps have at least some capability for such searches) for "Dell" as *anything* with that string is probably distinctive.
For the second, it will take access to native code. Using the "Functional Webserver" app you can download some file from the phone's /Windows directory. Checking them for useful COM exports would be helpful, although I'm not the person to ask about doing that - I can do NT drivers and I can do managed code, but COM is not my thing. Try asking for help with this in the general Windows Phone 7 Development and Hacking forum (http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=606).
For the third question, I could actually whip up a small app that *might* work already. You could also try Advanced Explorer (XDA) or TouchXplorer (TouchXperience) although I don't think either is guaranteed to work outside of HTC phones. If you're willing to try running an app that will check for read and write in a number of harmless parts of the file system, I can code one up for you to run and report results back.
Thanks again!
I'd love to get some homebrew development going, is there anything I can do to help?
Try getting in touch with notebookgrail (http://forum.xda-developers.com/member.php?u=3174632) as he seems to be pulling apart the DVP native libraries and finding lots of cool stuff to do with their COM interfaces. I don't know if he has registry write yet - one of the core functions that a lot of homebrew apps want - but if so I can work on getting it integrated into a nice cross-device library for writing apps which (should... grrr Samsung) work on any phone.
GoodDayToDie said:
Try getting in touch with jessej (http://forum.xda-developers.com/member.php?u=3220709) as he seems to be pulling apart the DVP native libraries and finding lots of cool stuff to do with their COM interfaces. I don't know if he has registry write yet - one of the core functions that a lot of homebrew apps want - but if so I can work on getting it integrated into a nice cross-device library for writing apps which (should... grrr Samsung) work on any phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did u mean to point it to me as i was the one who did pull apart the native libs.?
If not, sorry for the intrusion.
Yes, send your request to notebookgrail. I am not on his level for development purposes. But I do appreciate the comment.
Whoops, sorry about that notebookgrail! I must have looked at a response instead of the OP by accident. I've fixed my post above. Thanks a bunch for the work you've done. Any word on registry writing?
any progress?