Database Users

A Few Questions

Hi Everyone,
I am brand new to the Windows Mobile World, I have been with palm for probably 8 years, and the Treo 4 years until this past Friday, when I got the Touch (and a brand new 755P for free).
I used to develop palm applications, and also rewrite certain parts of the rom and such, mainly to delete those bundled applications.
My questions are:
1. Can you delete the Sprint TV, Sprint Music Store, On Demand, etc from the device, from my personal experience, Sprint TV has asked to download an update, and when I did, I had two Sprint TV icons.
2. I have skimmed the surface on this question on the threaded messaging thread, but is it possible for the threaded chat from the Windows Treo's to resize automatically when the keyboard pops up, this isn't a must, seeing that I have a fullscreen keyboard, but it would be nice to see everything your typing, instead of just one line of it.
Thank you all for your responses ahead of time, I hope I made a better choice in going over to Windows Mobile.
One more thing, when 6.1 comes out, will I be able to upgrade my device?

STNC said:
Hi Everyone,
I am brand new to the Windows Mobile World, I have been with palm for probably 8 years, and the Treo 4 years until this past Friday, when I got the Touch (and a brand new 755P for free).
I used to develop palm applications, and also rewrite certain parts of the rom and such, mainly to delete those bundled applications.
My questions are:
1. Can you delete the Sprint TV, Sprint Music Store, On Demand, etc from the device, from my personal experience, Sprint TV has asked to download an update, and when I did, I had two Sprint TV icons.
2. I have skimmed the surface on this question on the threaded messaging thread, but is it possible for the threaded chat from the Windows Treo's to resize automatically when the keyboard pops up, this isn't a must, seeing that I have a fullscreen keyboard, but it would be nice to see everything your typing, instead of just one line of it.
Thank you all for your responses ahead of time, I hope I made a better choice in going over to Windows Mobile.
One more thing, when 6.1 comes out, will I be able to upgrade my device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you read about the windows mobile 6.1 update #1 you will see its for smartphones and #2 because of that you will notice the features it adds the touch has already because it is not a non-touchscreen smartphone
you can delete the sprint apps the easiest way to do so is to hard reset the device and when it first boots when the countdown starts to install carrier customizations soft reset, it will prevent the sprint apps from being installed

XmentalX said:
if you read about the windows mobile 6.1 update #1 you will see its for smartphones and #2 because of that you will notice the features it adds the touch has already because it is not a non-touchscreen smartphone
you can delete the sprint apps the easiest way to do so is to hard reset the device and when it first boots when the countdown starts to install carrier customizations soft reset, it will prevent the sprint apps from being installed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And it wont try and reload the customization stuff? What about loading the network info, or is that pre-programed? Will I loose the Today Screen? Also, how do i hard reset the device, hold down the power button and hit the reset button.

STNC said:
And it wont try and reload the customization stuff? What about loading the network info, or is that pre-programed? Will I loose the Today Screen? Also, how do i hard reset the device, hold down the power button and hit the reset button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you will lose all the junk place don by sprint, you hard reset by going into settings and choosing clear storage, and your network info is stored in the radio nvram seperate from the device nvram so it will retain the provisioning
the today screen plugin, touch cube, etc will remain, just the sprint added stuff will be gone

XmentalX said:
you will lose all the junk place don by sprint, you hard reset by going into settings and choosing clear storage, and your network info is stored in the radio nvram seperate from the device nvram so it will retain the provisioning
the today screen plugin, touch cube, etc will remain, just the sprint added stuff will be gone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But how do I stop the custimization from happenin, I only have like 5 seconds

Ok, i did it, now where can i find the camera and video links for the cube, and also, how do i delete the sprint applications in the today screeen, as well as get the black theme.

Can we have the fish too?

Could the fishes application be reused on other pocket pc machines?
Or is it hardware specific?

Not the one on Xperia since it has been made for it`s hardware which is more powerful than Kaiser`s...
but a "weaker" version of it for other phones could work

The whole Panels interface is made for the WVGA screen. It doesn't work on QVGA!

I didnt wanted the panels, only the fish application.
Even if I coudnt see the bottom 80 pixels...

twolf said:
I didnt wanted the panels, only the fish application.
Even if I coudnt see the bottom 80 pixels...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a today screen plugin which runs the fish, which is heavily integrated with Panels.

l3v5y said:
There is a today screen plugin which runs the fish, which is heavily integrated with Panels.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could u provide the link???

judging from the sdk. been messing with the code Tutorials
the panels are not normal programs
they are a type of today screen items but not like normal ones
so dont think people can just move it to another phone without
some sort of wrapper or a full blown panel system

Rudegar said:
judging from the sdk. been messing with the code Tutorials
the panels are not normal programs
they are a type of today screen items but not like normal ones
so dont think people can just move it to another phone without
some sort of wrapper or a full blown panel system
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which we may just be getting on other devices

Ways to programmatically wipe & secure a Blackberry?

I'm new to mobile device development and would like to learn more about securing mobile devices. I'd like to create an application that runs on my Blackberry pearl mobile device that can audit itpolicy security settings, lock/unlock the screen, disable bluetooth and perform a wipe of personal info without using a BES.
From what I've researched, the only applications that can be written for Blackberry are in Java. I've been reading through the api docs (http://www.blackberry.com/developers...api/index.html) to see what capabilities are possible, but it appears that there are limitations in the available api's that make it difficult to write such an application.
It appears that security settings can only be read via the net.rim.device.api.itpolicy. It seems that the only way to make changes to the security settings is via event injection class, which is unreliable since sending a series of key presses is necessary and the position of program icons can change. Does anyone have other ideas on how to make policy or settings changes on a blackberry?
I've seen ads for other software apps (e.g Roblock) that can wipe a blackberry when sms text messages are received, so I know that this is possible. Any ideas that can lead me down the right path?

sdb1031 said:
I'm new to mobile device development and would like to learn more about securing mobile devices. I'd like to create an application that runs on my Blackberry pearl mobile device that can audit itpolicy security settings, lock/unlock the screen, disable bluetooth and perform a wipe of personal info without using a BES.
From what I've researched, the only applications that can be written for Blackberry are in Java. I've been reading through the api docs (http://www.blackberry.com/developers...api/index.html) to see what capabilities are possible, but it appears that there are limitations in the available api's that make it difficult to write such an application.
It appears that security settings can only be read via the net.rim.device.api.itpolicy. It seems that the only way to make changes to the security settings is via event injection class, which is unreliable since sending a series of key presses is necessary and the position of program icons can change. Does anyone have other ideas on how to make policy or settings changes on a blackberry?
I've seen ads for other software apps (e.g Roblock) that can wipe a blackberry when sms text messages are received, so I know that this is possible. Any ideas that can lead me down the right path?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, you are in the wrong place. We only deal with Windows Mobile especially XDA (HTC) devices. Maybe you can jump ship, ditch the "suckberry" and crossover to where the "grass is greener"

djide said:
Unfortunately, you are in the wrong place. We only deal with Windows Mobile especially XDA (HTC) devices. Maybe you can jump ship, ditch the "suckberry" and crossover to where the "grass is greener"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not everyone can use WM devices where they work. While this post was an attack, it does have a point. You are better off asking the question on crackberry.com's forums.

I like blackberry jam on my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
... or even better blackberry cobbler.... yummmy!

Just a warning to all blow-berry users
"Superstition in the UK holds that blackberries should not be picked after Michaelmas (29 September) as the devil has claimed them, having left a mark on the leaves by urinating on them. There is some value behind this legend as after this date wetter and cooler weather often allows the fruit to become infected by various molds such as Botryotinia which give the fruit an unpleasant look and may be toxic."
hehehe i love wikipedia

LOL... So your saying that after Sept 29th the blackberry grows mold and becomes deformed?!? It wasn't very usable before that either.

Xperia Panels - Whats the use if you cant run them concurrently

Hi all Xperia owners,
As a owner of this hyped phone, it has comed to my greatest astonishment that the Panels cannot be "used" concurrently.
For example:
If I wished to activate the multimedia panel to listen to some MP3 while at the same time do FaceBook panel , there is no way this can happen.
Or, whats the point of just staring at the FM Radio panel when I could be viewing some photos in the photo album while having my favourite FM Station running in the background?
To further add salt to wound, Sony did not bother to put these programs to be executable from the native Windows/Program folder.
Am I missing a point here from Sony as in this multitasking windows environment, they have decided to make their Panel technology run serially? Or maybe i did miss out some important settings ?

I agree with your statement above, panels are not multitask-friendly. My guess is that it was an attempt from SE to make their winmo distro more stable, preventing these processes from overlapping each other and taking up memory. I've noticed that the video playback performance is better on the Sony media experience panel than coreplayer (go ahead flame me) although not as flexible. Something similar happens with the popular iPhone, if you've ever messed around with one you'll notice it's basically unitasking, one app at a time, the only apps you can multitask with are the ipod and phone, but rarely crashes.

Actually, I was thinking about this. I, like many people, thought that the panels would just sit there, with nine different apps running side by side. Obviously this isn't the case. Could it be that this is just the first stage in the panel interface, a kinda test run? What about the next Xperia? X2 or X5 or whatever it's gonna be. Maybe it'll deliver what most people expected from the panels...

I think you guys are missing the point of panels.
If that's the case, you don't need panels, you just need applications running concurrently.

zenkinz said:
I think you guys are missing the point of panels.
If that's the case, you don't need panels, you just need applications running concurrently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally have found the SE media panel to be the most useful of all. For everything else that I don't demand high system priorities for, just run them as regular apps concurrently.
zenkinz, in your opinion, what's the point of panels? Please read my post above about what I think they are for (stability and performance).

if they were there would be much much less ram and cpu juice left
the arm cpu's are not as powerfull as computer cpu's
so believe me if they were you would suffer

wrong thread... edited out.

Which in actuality proves my point that the Panels are nothing more than fancy graphics or multiple "todays" screen.
Any WinMo/Symbian device today without Panels can definitely do Media browsing and FM Radio/Music and MORE without the slightest sign of sluggishness while Xperia with its powerful processor and available RAM lacks multitasking due to its much talked about "Panels"?
Strip its Panels and a slightly longer (but not wider) display , Xperia does not even come close to the Touch Pro with TF3D, G-Sensor, better sound and built quality

cmloo said:
Which in actuality proves my point that the Panels are nothing more than fancy graphics or multiple "todays" screen.
Any WinMo/Symbian device today without Panels can definitely do Media browsing and FM Radio/Music and MORE without the slightest sign of sluggishness while Xperia with its powerful processor and available RAM lacks multitasking due to its much talked about "Panels"?
Strip its Panels and a slightly longer (but not wider) display , Xperia does not even come close to the Touch Pro with TF3D, G-Sensor, better sound and built quality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Xperia was designed by HTC based on SE's standards. What I did with mine was flash it with one of the cooked roms in the roms section which gave me the TF3D and it's pretty fast. I also added the panels, but for the sole reason of the SE media experience panel which I like for playing smoother video. In the end, it's all software, and it doesn't lack multitasking, only among panels. The rest is all good old winmo.

yeah, panels are a disapointment, the should let do some multitasking or at least run panels as an application (facebook one for example).
anyways, I think we currently have a "beta" rom in our xperias, since it's from august/08... maybe next mont we get a big update... let's hope...
this, or just a cooked rom without problems

The thing about Panels is that they allow you to change the look and feel of your device. On one hand i have a simple Today screen, on another i have the detailed today screen... then i have an SPB screen... and now we have Touch HD's TF3D as a panel too! Soon... we'll have more panels, like a home screen that allows you to navigate with ease (navigation panel). The main point is that regardless of the panel of your choice, you have access to all the windows mobile software along-side it.
I think panels are a really powerful feature of the phone! And as far as multi-tasking is concerned... you can run media player or the more famous core player and write messages, etc. and work with your selected panel of choice without much lag. And this to me is very powerful. not taking into consideration the likes of iPhone, but going straight to Symbian... Symbian too is powerful, but i consider windows mobile to be further ahead. What you can do with symbian, you could do with a simple windows mobile phone without panels or TF3D or gadgets and so on...
In my opinion; Xperia delivers what it set out to do... a powerful experience. Sure there are lags at certain times... but overall it is the perfect windows mobile device!
Sure two panels don't run simultaneously... and it would be awesome if in a future update we do get something like that... but overall it works great!

rpereira said:
I personally have found the SE media panel to be the most useful of all. For everything else that I don't demand high system priorities for, just run them as regular apps concurrently.
zenkinz, in your opinion, what's the point of panels? Please read my post above about what I think they are for (stability and performance).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the point of panel is to offer different "theme" of Today screen based on your primary usage of your phone at that particular point in time.
It's always good to have quick access to your next appointment, or tasks, but really you probably only do that when you are in meeting, or while you are working. When you are at outside office hours, you probably be spending time listening to music, watching video, or just simply idling. You may get a new email notification, or have to reply an incoming sms, but after taking action for these sporadic events you will be back to the 'Today' screen that offers you the theme you are in..
That's why I came out with the idea of Car navigation panel, where I need not worry about fumbling with new email notification, or having to switch to media player to change albums, as I can always go back to 'Today' screen easily.
In anycase, that's just my view (or maybe how I like to think that way), because if it's meant to be a concurrent active desktops, you might be better off with just running the programs and using taskmanager to switch from process to process.

I'm very happy with the panels too
maybe the real questions is one of expectations
if people belived they were getting 9 pda's they could switch
between it would likely be an disappointment
but it's not likely to be the last with these pda phones

cmloo said:
Which in actuality proves my point that the Panels are nothing more than fancy graphics or multiple "todays" screen.
Any WinMo/Symbian device today without Panels can definitely do Media browsing and FM Radio/Music and MORE without the slightest sign of sluggishness while Xperia with its powerful processor and available RAM lacks multitasking due to its much talked about "Panels"?
Strip its Panels and a slightly longer (but not wider) display , Xperia does not even come close to the Touch Pro with TF3D, G-Sensor, better sound and built quality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to each his/her own.
I find Touch Pro no better than my Xperia. TF3D is just a flashy interface that offers limited function. The tabs acts like a panel, but there's so limited you can do within the tab (e.g. music player, stock quote or photo browser, they are just plug-in rather than full blown application)
TP is also nowhere near (imho) to Xperia in terms of performance (Xperia is so much responsive and fast), design (curvy body versus brick design) and keyboard ergonomic (many would disagree, I go for overall experience over total number of keys)
Just my own opinion only

Rudegar said:
I'm very happy with the panels too
maybe the real questions is one of expectations
if people belived they were getting 9 pda's they could switch
between it would likely be an disappointment
but it's not likely to be the last with these pda phones
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agree, and also, it's one thing about providing 9 active panels with 1 glance (as some folks are frowing over lack of the capability), it's another being able to consume all the information offered by all the 9 panels at one go, not to mention the miniature fonts you have to handle ..

Makes sense. If i were depending on my navigator to show me the way while driving, it would really suck to get random notifications from other programs, so I think your panel idea will be quite useful.

I'm also sideing with the "Panels are good" guys.
I love the versatility that they give me, and am just patiently waiting to see what comes out of the Panel Development Competion, S.E. are supposed to be running.
I have had as many as 5 different UI's set up on different panels, as much to test them out, as to give me different screen "looks" when i felt like a change.
My latest way is to use different panels as "software themes". Like, I can set up a multimedia panel with all my video, and audio players shortcutted into it. A navigation panel, with all my sat nav style apps set up .
etc. etc.
It can only get better, in my opinion.
I do think 50% of people are missing the potential of Panels, tho.

i dont mind the panels too much. however what i am unhappy about is that sony ericsson advertised the panels as being active. therefore theoretically you could press the xpanel button and the 9 panels shown would update in realtime. currently the panels are little more than shortcuts to some fancy apps or homescreens

msalmank said:
The thing about Panels is that they allow you to change the look and feel of your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Couldn't agree more and I am satisfied w/ the panel too.
One important fact many people forget about is WM as of right now has a max limit of 32 processes (including background that run your phone). Some tricks can be done to workaround this issue but there's still a limit and the OS will close some of the non active processes if you reach that. It doesn't matter how fast your CPU or how many ram you got.

I'm coming to believe that the applications runing on Panels are just on top of another layer instead of running straight on top of the OS.
iPhone and BB have no problem filling the "desktop" with icons that are no more that a call to the program. Functionally they are more efficient to reach any where that even Touchflo 3D
What's the purpose to have a whole panel to run a program. That's stupid. for exmaple FM radio or FaceBook.
The Panels are not more that an ill conceived idea, with some BS marketing ideology behind them. All they did was destroy one one best smartphones ever built.

x2 to be Android?

http://www.neowin.net/news/main/08/12/11/sony-ericsson-joins-the-open-handset-alliance
Having just released their very first Windows Mobile based device, the Xperia X1, it seems as though Sony Ericsson is not willing to rest on it's laurels, for too long. The company has just announced it's entry into the Open Handset Alliance. By doing so, Sony Ericsson has confirmed it's intention on developing a handset based on Google's Android mobile operating system.
Rikko Sakaguchi, Chief Vice President and head of Creation and Development at Sony Ericsson, in speaking of the move said, "We believe Sony Ericsson can bring a wealth of experience in making consumer focused multimedia handsets with new user experience to the Alliance." He continued, "Sony Ericsson is a strong supporter of open operating systems and we believe the Open Handset Alliance offers an exciting opportunity for a new and unique user experience only Sony Ericsson can deliver."
With support for Android picking up quickly, one has to wonder what will be done to make sure Windows Mobile and Symbian, Android's main rivals in the mobile operating system market, continue to hold or grow their market share.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

From my point of view, i guess at least 1 model of each must hit the market at the same time.
in other words, a new windows mobile will be released and a new device with Android during the same period.
this will give them an impression about which one is preferred by the end users. specially after this huge success of X1 (even though it's the first SE WM), i guess SE will not give up on Microsoft easily.

I think that the manufacturer that gives you the option of which OS you want to run will be the biggest successfull smartphone of recent times - you can choose which OS you want to run on a PC, why not a phone, pay the ms licence fee for windows mobile, and give the end user their own choice... that way MS are happy, the manufacturer is selling the phones, and we would be loving it!

rosebud said:
that way MS are happy...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think so!

I think in the mobile arena people are not concerned about the OS more the UI.
Unlike the PC market where the OS dictates what the UI look like. The mobile market is vastly different. Both with Android and WinMo you can alter what the UI looks like (Not so with iPhone)
As long as manufacturers of the hardware don't lock down the phone to a specific UI then I think they'll be on to a winner. (That's why i didn't want an iPhone)

They certainly haven't hit the sweet spot yet.
Windows Mobile is too PC like, its awkward to use without a stylus. Panels are no replacement for that either as we already need third-party apps for something.
Android from what I have seen (which is not much) seems to be more a traditional phone interface, which I suspect is not PC enough.
The problem is, you can't sacrifice the PC features for the sake of making it more thumb friendly otherwise you might as well have bought a normal phone. However WM is also far from the ease of use of a normal phone which gets annoying sometimes when all you want to do is make a call.
Is it even possible to solve both those problems? Panels certainly was an attempt which I am not so sure about yet. Its far too "stuck on top". I get not wanting it to take over the phone, I wouldn't want that either, but it would be helpful sometimes to have the X1 in "phone priority mode" where it imitates a phone keeping the PC stuff in the background. If I want to choose a contact, make a call, send a text, its overly complicated and time consuming in WM and having to wait for Panels to load makes it no faster either.

Alex Atkin UK said:
If I want to choose a contact, make a call, send a text, its overly complicated and time consuming in WM and having to wait for Panels to load makes it no faster either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest, I don't find what you described here much different than other phone that I have used such as say Symbian....
I am not sure why you find it overly complicated and time consuming, but making a call and sending a message isn't harder to me at least... you just open contacts (or use the "Call button") type in the name (or number in the phone screen) and there you go........... I can't imagine it being any better really.

erichui said:
To be honest, I don't find what you described here much different than other phone that I have used such as say Symbian....
I am not sure why you find it overly complicated and time consuming, but making a call and sending a message isn't harder to me at least... you just open contacts (or use the "Call button") type in the name (or number in the phone screen) and there you go........... I can't imagine it being any better really.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree.... coming from a iphone I just dont see any different to make a call between the 2 os.... I still have to click on the phone button, then click on the number to make a call... same thing on the sms.... or maybe Alex have a different approach or he doesnt know which button to click to make a call
in terms of "thumb friendly"... the only thing that I find that the x1 is not is that the screen size is small compare to the iphone. Otherwise while the x1's screen use pressure instead of capacitance, I dont find it a lot different than the iphone...

Well for a start, what is the quickest/easiest way to get to the messaging app?
I do it via the today screen which is REALLY easy to hit the wrong line.
Then there's editing your contacts. This is REALLY fiddly on WM because its a pure Windows interface so the best chance of not hitting the wrong line is to get the stylus out.
One problem is that I want small fonts so I can fit more text on the screen, but often the size of the area you click is related to the font size. So if you have small fonts its harder to use with your finger.
Panels on the other hand are great in theory, but they are so slow at loading due to being all separate apps. They need to load a LOT quicker.
It also does not help the lack of 2D/3D acceleration so the CPU gets hammered doing really basic things which can cause scrolling to stutter, apps to hang, etc. So its not all WM at fault here, the whole OpenGL not available to the OS on the Qualcomm chipsets is a big issue for usability.