Database Users

New ROM - Battery Indicator vs Clock dilema

As it seems, M$ introduced a mod into new WM5.0 ROMs, so that a Battery Indicator is displayed at title bar instead of the tradicional clock.
It is also possible to configure the device to display the time/clock in all applications, but it doesn't happen while in Today screen.
In opposition to what happened with previous OS builds.
A Reg hack allowed and still allows to change the 'time', to 'date' or 'time&date'.
However with some combinations now, the icons overlap each other into the Title Bar...
Nobody seems to be happy with this new "feature", and likes to live with the alternative of having the time/clock displayed into a Today plug-in.
Also it seems no one succeded to hack and get rid of this. Any ideas?
It is in fact a very annoying indicator!!!
Who wants a Battery Indicator that means just one of three things: 'battery full'; 'battery half full' (or half empty); 'battery empty'...
And look bellow, how strange it could get...
Two battery indicators at the Title Bar (both from M$), and with different lookings...

lol
That's pretty funny, 2 battery meters in the taskbar, with no third party tool to do so? :>
I just wonder who came up with this stroke of genius... was it really Microsoft, or was it HTC, or was it iMate/Qtek (haven't seen any other branded ones yet..)?
Having the Time in the Today Item is one thing... it's a shame it takes up 2 lines, but I guess some people can live with that. Others, like me, think that's pretty messed up and would prefer a better solution ($100 is still available for the person to create said solution - search around the forums for the bounty thread).
But to automatically remove the clock from the expected location is just horrible ergonomics. Imagine having that in real life... you have a watch on your wrist, and wherever you are, you look at your wrist because you expect your watch with the time to be there. Now you get to the office, and there's one of those cheapo round wallclocks on the wall. You look at your wrist to check the time: hey, wtf - your watch is gone! But as soon as you step outside the door *ploink* your watch is back on your wrist. Ooookay.
The battery meter is an entirely different issue altogether. It's almost the lamest and least informative meter ever*, it takes up an icon in the task bar, and I guess it actually disappears when you switch to an app? What's the point? Battery meters like "Batti" are where it's at - MS/whoever should take a page out of their book and learn.
( * the lamest are actually those which are onlu applications. Start an application to check the battery level? double-you tee triple-ef. No offense to those who coded one )

And you thought that was funny!? Look at this!!! OMG LOL!!
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!! OMG 3 Battery indicators!!! LMAO!!!!!
M$ ARE STUPID AS ****

lol
how'd you end up with -that- happening ?
You sure that extra bar that's obscuring your today items isn't a third party thing? I suppose it might be that tray_icons.exe (wrong name, technically - as it's the taskbar, not the tray) ?

ZeBoxx said:
lol
how'd you end up with -that- happening ?
You sure that extra bar that's obscuring your today items isn't a third party thing? I suppose it might be that tray_icons.exe (wrong name, technically - as it's the taskbar, not the tray) ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL...
This bar pops-up when you have more than one notification in queue to acknowledge, and you tap ballon at Title Bar.
In fact it is the combination of the two images I posted, with the events queued
Great work M$...
Waitting for the day we can get rid of the battery icon on the Title Bar.

[>_<]
I hope Qtek's ROM makers end up reading all these complaints about the iMate one (and their own earlier test one) and fixes it before they release theirs. I know a lot of people are anxious for push e-mail (and then go asking how to disable it because it runs up their bills.. *chuckle*) and A2DP (not included in iMate) and overall improvements, but this is one non-improvement I'll stick to an older ROM for

You are really right. it is a sh***.
Always they come with these fantastic ideas. i don't know nobody of the developpers saw all complains about the device in all forums discussing the good and the negative points.
i hope one will come with a batch correcting these mess.

FWIW the recently released Orange ROM does this too. It is very annoying indeed.
Has anyone discovered a way to disable this useless battery indicator on the Title Bar?

It would have been nicer too if they at least made the date, day, and time pug-in as one line, and not the date and day taking 2 lines.

wisbar advance 2 makes the time stay when on the today screen,
when i can i'll post a pic but i have
wisbar advance 2 + vga skin
pocket breeze, contact breeze, pocket weather and ilauncher all setup to use only the 1 today item,
clock stays all the time
and im pleased with the speed, its still just as fast even at rotating

more accurately.. last time I checked.. wisbar advance places its own clock there %)
Not quite the same, and means you do have to install another app which permanently takes over your task bar, etc. - which isn't all bad, wisbar advance is pretty sweet. still, I didn't find any particular need for it.. so if the battery meter can just be removed, that'd be preferable %)

I must be the only one who thinks this is quite useful then! But it assumes that you have the clock plugin on the Today screen, and don't like to waste space on an extra battery plugin.
However, it would be nice to have the option. If no one comes up with a reg hack, it might be possible to hack the system to force it show only the clock I guess.
V

Carnivor said:
wisbar advance 2 makes the time stay when on the today screen,
when i can i'll post a pic but i have
wisbar advance 2 + vga skin
pocket breeze, contact breeze, pocket weather and ilauncher all setup to use only the 1 today item,
clock stays all the time
and im pleased with the speed, its still just as fast even at rotating
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How much memory does Wisbar take? Can we install this to the SD card or better yet, the Ext ROM?

You might want to check out the recently released WisBar lite. No skinning engine built in for faster operation. I've never tried it though.
V

vijay555 said:
I must be the only one who thinks this is quite useful then!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*gasp*
et tu, vijay?
vijay555 said:
But it assumes that you have the clock plugin on the Today screen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mistake #1
vijay555 said:
and don't like to waste space on an extra battery plugin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mistake #2.1. In my case icon wastes more space than 2px high indicator line. *pats Batti*.
mistake #2.2. Assumes that you don't already -have- a battery indicator. /me points at the dozens of battery indicators out there. Say yours of choice is a taskbar icon as well. Except it's cooler (more features.. whatever). Now you have two - but you can't get rid of the built-in one. Yay!
vijay555 said:
However, it would be nice to have the option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mistake #3
vijay555 said:
If no one comes up with a reg hack, it might be possible to hack the system to force it show only the clock I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
request #1 as soon as this ROM popped up - get rid of the da*n battery icon
request #2 and restore the clock %)
I do suppose it's some silly registry thing, or just a file that you need to remove, or if need be some file that you need to hack about.

vijay555 said:
You might want to check out the recently released WisBar lite. No skinning engine built in for faster operation. I've never tried it though.
V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just checked out Wisbar Lite http://www.lakeridgesoftware.com/products.php?prod=WisBar+Lite as you and Carnivor mentioned, it does take care of the time issue on the today screen. I am afraid to try it though, for I am running Small Menu and Magic Button at the same time, their combination is absolutely perfect in the Universal.

Me too - I use smallmenu with VJOkButt. I wouldn't use Wisbar just to replace the clock.
V

have the same problem, defies the whole purpose of having the date/time if it overlaps.
no way around it?

I just upgraded the ROM on my JAMin and its the same, battery meter on the top right hand corner in place of the clock.

Have we found a solution to this battery icon problem yet? I've not been able to find one.
Cheers,
Steve.

SORTED - Battery/Clock Problem in IMate ROM Update

I think I have sorted the problem on the new Imate Rom update showing the battery instead of the clock in the top bar.
I removed the file "Windows\Startup\Init_Tray.exe".
Now the Battery still shows on the Today Screen - But the clock shows on all other screens.
As the clock is shown elsewhere in the Today Screen thats works for me.
I just have to wait and see if removing the Init_Tray.exe creates any problems - if anyone knows, please let me know.
As an alternative, the clock is shown with other things if you use WisBar from here http://www.lakeridgesoftware.com/products.php?prod=WisBar+Advance

You can do the same thing by applying a reg hack or using Tweaks2k. You don't have to remove the init_tray.exe.

heh.. most of the people would consider the Battery vs Time issue to -be- the fact that it disappears on the Today screen. You can still configure the date/time to be displayed in other applications by simply going through the date/time configuration settings last I checked on the status of this.

Go to Control Panel/System/Clock and Alarms
Click on 'More' Tab. Select 'Display the clock on the title bar in all programs'. Click okay
It does the the same thing as what pewe mentioned, but without the hassle. LOL!! I can not believe you didn't spot that!?
Bye

Clock Disappearing On Today Screen
The problem with the built in 'show clock in status bar in all programs' is that it woeks for everything except the Today screen. You can add it back in as part of the day date plug in for the today screen, but that takes up space. I preferred the old version where the battery was in the system tray at the bottom, the clock showed at the top and you could add the clock to all other programs. Why do we have to go backwards with these ROM updates? :x

Erm... I belive the problem is to get RID of the battery on the taskbar, and add the clock there for the today screen like it used to be in the older roms... Sadly I've moved back to using an old dopod rom because of this little issue, and i'm not upgrading again till this is fixed

I have install the new ROM and find out that the Battery icon will show on the top right corner, and the time (clock) will show on the same level as the date
I did not find this anoying ??
I will think it's nice to have the Battery icon on the TOP :roll:
I'm I missing something ? Is there other catch ?
let me know
thanks
Update : I guess I get it, having the Time not in the top bar, will then bother when you move to other screen then the Home screen. You will then miss the time
hum hum, I have to think and see in a long term if that bother me after all.

Go to Control Panel/System/Clock and Alarms
Click on 'More' Tab. Select 'Display the clock on the title bar in all programs'. Click okay
It does the the same thing as what pewe mentioned, but without the hassle. LOL!! I can not believe you didn't spot that!?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have 2 Wizards and found that the 'Clock on every page' worked on one but not the other, whereas removing the Init_tray.exe worked on both.
Put the file back on both this morning, and now they both work. Weird!!!

what if............
8) 8) What if someone uploads an older init_tray.exe from an original rom and we try that inplace of the current one?? 8) 8)
Can someone upload please and let us know the location?

csian, replacing the init_tray with an older version would likely only give the battery icon in the tray, if that is desired. personally i don't want ANY battery indicator (already use the battery indicator from Pocket Plus) but with the Imate rom, i still get the top bar battery indicator (ugh)... tried all the reg hacks, even with new values just to see how it responds, but didn't find one that removed the battery from the top bar... (sigh)
Just FYI.

So sorry
csian, replacing the init_tray with an older version would likely only give the battery icon in the tray, if that is desired. personally i don't want ANY battery indicator (already use the battery indicator from Pocket Plus) but with the Imate rom, i still get the top bar battery indicator (ugh)... tried all the reg hacks, even with new values just to see how it responds, but didn't find one that removed the battery from the top bar... (sigh)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
8) 8) Just thought it was worth a shot because the battery indicator in the tray was really only a link to power settings and not really an indicator. Getting rid of the current battery icon and putting the clock back in the top right corner is what I really want. 8) 8)

I noticed something while resetting my 9100. The clock doesn't disappear from the top bar. It is only covered by the battery meter it seems. It was on my screen for a minute before the battery meter showed up. THis makes me think that some program has been added that may also be able to be deleted.

How about it..............
8) 8) Anyone got an original init_tray.exe they can upload. (Someone with clock still in upper right hand corner of Today Screen) PLEASE. 8) 8)

Re: How about it..............
csian said:
8) 8) Anyone got an original init_tray.exe they can upload. (Someone with clock still in upper right hand corner of Today Screen) PLEASE. 8) 8)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here it's and I hope it will help you to get the time back in old style!!!
This file is from T Mobile NL version!

init_tray.exe from Tmobile US MDA original ship rom
here's the init_tray from my Tmobile MDA US (prior to updating to latest kjam).
hopefully someone has some success getting that battery meter off! might scan my older registry from the Tmobile rom to see if perhaps its an entry that was added by tmobile's customizations perhaps?
peace
Edit/Note: just copied init_tray.exe from the US ship rom and all it did was add the battery meter into the tray area and the battery on top stayed.. but that migth be because init_tray.exe is in the rom and still runs... also, even by just disabling init_tray.exe from starting up (i moved the init_tray.lnk from teh startup folder and soft reset but still had the battery meter but didn't have the tray icons showing my wifi connection..) so init_tray might not be the one.. but i could be wrong too.. hehe.. still a new w/wm5 and my mda..

Thanks guy's
8) 8) Ya I tried the older init_tray files and it didn't work for me either. It must be in the registry or a dll somewhere boy I wish we could figure this out. If anyone has a registry dump for a wizard with the clock still at the top I would like to compare to my current registry and see if I can find the culprit. 8) 8)

'd get you one, but I still haven't gotten around to getting a nice clean hard reset.. so mine's littered with crap from botched installs and unclean uninstalls. If anybody else wants to try it - TRE (Tascal Registry Edit) will export the registry to a file.

Restoring the Battery icon

Unlike some, I actually LIKE the battery icon that's displayed at the top-right of the screen in the new ROM's. Unfortunately, after running the Registry Wizard it's removed it and left an empty space.
What egistry key will actually RESTORE the battery icon? I've tried searching the forum but the Search engine is producing errors at the moment.
Thanks,

With registry wizard - by default under the Taskbar date/time settings it is none - try setting it to clock and the battery should reappear
More info in nicodekker's orginal post below
below
below

No, unfortunately unticking the box just leaves an empty space still.
Any other suggestions?

Did you try ticking the box and choosing clock - just unticking it won't revert the reg value I think

Fork said:
Unlike some, I actually LIKE the battery icon that's displayed at the top-right of the screen in the new ROM's. Unfortunately, after running the Registry Wizard it's removed it and left an empty space.
What egistry key will actually RESTORE the battery icon? I've tried searching the forum but the Search engine is producing errors at the moment.
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Blasphemy!

infidel :lol:

Found it. Deleting the registry key "TBOpt" at HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Shell does the trick.

Actually I only use this because I like a good indicator of my battery status. I much prefer the one available in SPB GPRS Monitor (the horizontal bar at the very top of the screen) but I don't know how to get this without loading the full-blown GPRS monitor app every time.
Is there a small, low-memory app that does something similar without wasting ANOTHER line on the Today screen needlessly?
Thanks,

Fork said:
Actually I only use this because I like a good indicator of my battery status. I much prefer the one available in SPB GPRS Monitor (the horizontal bar at the very top of the screen) but I don't know how to get this without loading the full-blown GPRS monitor app every time.
Is there a small, low-memory app that does something similar without wasting ANOTHER line on the Today screen needlessly?
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes there is: David andrs' Batti v1.4.1
http://pda.jasnapaka.com/batti/

Thanks, that's exactly what I was after.

Move Battery Meter

I'd like to move the battery icon from the tray next to the time so I can remove the tray altogether. Any registry hacks/programs anybody can recommend?

Only AKU 2.x Roms allow a built-in battery meter on the top bar but they don't allow both the time and battery meter.
AKU 2.0 only allow the Battery Meter (no time on the today screen) but the battery meter is then gone when you are in an application.
AKU 2.2+ Roms allow you to choose between time or battery meter but again this is only on the today screen.
If you don't mind installing a 3rd party app, just search using "Battery Meter" and you'll find many to choose from. Spend a little time reading the threads and downloading a few to find the one that best fits your needs.
To remove the meter from the bottom, search for "Remove System Tray".

Just wondering what others on this forum used. Thanks.

Not to be "un-helpful" (new word I think) but the best thing you can do is search as I've suggested. You will find many discussions that give a lot if info on the ups and downs of the different applicatios which offer battery meters.
FYI, the Rom you listed is a 2.2 which does allow the battery meter to be placed up there but not with the time.

I use batti which puts a battery line at the top of the screen - it is pretty popular amongst forum users (or a variant of it) as it takes very little today screen space.
My favorite verson attached

thanks meschle for the link. i like this program already.

Battery icon in tray

I found a reg tweak to get a simple battery icon in my tray. Worked just fine. I did a hard reset and can't find the tweak now. I've searched for the past 30 minutes and found a bunch of crap related to 3rd party apps and the time and date in the tray. I found:
HKLM\Services\Power\ShowIcon
and set that to 1 and did a soft reset and it didn't work. So, how the hell do I get the icon to show up? Right now, I have 2 icons for connection (E for EDGE and signal strength), volume, and the time, and I want all those, plus the battery icon. Thanks

I think you're confusing the tray (on the BOTTOM of the Today screen) with the Task Bar.
Edit: Changed "Title Bar" to "Task Bar" to be consistent with what the OS calls it.

Yeah, title bar's what I meant. Still can't get that damn icon to show

Hi,
I can't help you, but I'm interested in the tweak you made first. Could you tell me how you got your battery icon to the title bar?
Thanks.

apu said:
Hi,
I can't help you, but I'm interested in the tweak you made first. Could you tell me how you got your battery icon to the title bar?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think he will be able to tell you that because its not working for him. The whole reason he posted was that the battery icon was not displaying in the title bar.

yg17 said:
I found a reg tweak to get a simple battery icon in my tray. Worked just fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it worked...

Use the WM VI Batti program. One of it's functions gives you a simple battery icon in the title bar. You can view the thread HERE.
Or to make your life a little easier, you can download the .cab file HERE.
Great program, I absolutely love it.

In the Task Bar
Ok, so how do you remove the battery icon from the task bar? Somehow something I installed or changed put it there but I have no idea how to undo it since it's never shown up or done that before.

the_matrixx said:
Ok, so how do you remove the battery icon from the task bar? Somehow something I installed or changed put it there but I have no idea how to undo it since it's never shown up or done that before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't figured that one out yet. I never liked the system tray on the bottom, so I removed it altogether with a simple reg tweak. Navigate to...
HKLM\init\
There you will find several keys, but the one you want is Launch92. This contains the location of where Windows will look for the tray app. I just modified the registry from "TrayAp.Exe" to "oldTrayAp.exe" Prevents the app from starting up altogether. You can then use BatteryStatus to create its own system tray and from there, you can add all your own icons (including a battery icon). I believe the battery program is powerexe.exe in the Windows directory.

battery icon
Try this:
Find the following:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shell
Search for the key ShowTitleBarClock and change the value to 0.
If the ShowTitleBarClock does not exist, create a new DWORD and put value (in decimal) as 0.
Hope it works for you as it did for me.

small bat meter
Try this small battery meter:
Ariel Battery meter
Very low CPU usage:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=364278