Mobility Digest » Fuze

Windows Mobile Interview: XDA TV Throwback Episode

Albert Bunn — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 01:40:57 +0000

Hey there, it’s Albert again. I haven’t posted an entry in a little bit because I’ve been pretty busy lately, but I thought I’d like to write again and shed some light on a spectacular YouTube video I watched around a week ago. For some of you that haven’t been there, one of the only other blogs beside Mobility Digest (that I know of anyway) that posts anything about Windows Mobile 6 anymore is XDA DEVELOPERS, and the other day I saw something on their YouTube channel that really caught my eye: They did sort of an interview between “Azrienoch” and “CajunFlavoredBob”. They talked a little bit about how “CajunFlavoredBob” got into Windows Mobile (and later their forum) and his past devices and his current HD2 and why he liked Windows Mobile and continues to use it to this very day. The almost eight minute video features interesting nuggets of information starting with where the name “XDA DEVELOPERS” came from – which led them into exposing to the world that British people have cell phones, and that one of those foreign carriers got one of HTC’s devices custom branded as the “XDA”. He shared about his first phone device, the HTC “Wallaby” and really nailed exactly what I thought about how the market has changed: We’re moving into higher end, yet more disposable devices. If I’m not mistaken, the launch cost of the Samsung i700 was in the $600 neighborhood, and you can get powerful smartphones today on contract for next to nothing which seems to be really hurting the industry to me. What this does is it screws up the value of everything – any mobile handheld now depreciates faster than video games pertaining to sports.

Anyway, “Bob” goes on to tell us about some more evolutionary HTC Windows Mobile handhelds which included the well known Blue Angel, the original HTC Touch, the Titan, Touch Pro, and the Touch Pro 2. He went into a little more detail on his Touch Pro 2 and held it up beside the Wizard to demonstrate how deep HTC’s “Sense/Manila” made it into the system before Microsoft screwed over the Windows Mobile userbase. From there, they moved on to talking about how (little) the messaging program changed over the years and how our messaging habits as a culture have evolved before he kind of got ready to wrap up the video.

Toward the end, he shared how he had tried Android on his HD2, but it just didn’t “feel” the same to him, and while he said he was learning, Windows Mobile is still his “Daily Driver”. After this part, they add in a random clip of their weird girl and she told her HD2 story (ironically, she basically just ranted about why she didn’t like it), and then “Cajun” comes back and talks a little bit more about holding onto his HD2 for the immediate future since he could still run the “modern” Android platform but also be able to use Windows Mobile which he (and still many of us) are comfortable with. To conclude they shared some “deep” thoughts about how since Windows Mobile 6 had no real successor, it will be tough for many of us to say “goodbye” and admit that the platform is kind of almost “dead”, although it will certainly live on here and on XDA Developers for a very very long time.

::AB

Smooth YouTube Downloader Updated (version 2.1)(8/31)

Albert Bunn — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 01:17:53 +0000

On August 31st, popular XDA DEVELOPERS member Zorc released version 2.1 of one of the community’s favorite Windows Mobile freeware tools, Smooth YouTube downloader. Since its inception, Smooth YouTube Downloader has helped the prolific community of Windows Mobile device holders around the world to download YouTube videos to their device’s more reliable onboard storage or media card without having to worry about data speeds, network coverage, or WEP keys. While ironically many companies are trying to move our “personal belongings” to overloaded “cloud servers” in the sky that require constant and reliable network access, having your files with you reduces the wait and saves precious battery life, not to mention the bandwidth that would’ve been otherwise wasted (which isn’t a good thing in this day and age with so many carriers charging massive costs for extremely small amounts of data). Smooth YouTube downloader comes with a nifty skin and allows you to pick the desired resolution for your download from QVGA size FLV files to WXGA size MP4s and everything inbetween. The program itself supports many common device resolutions too from QVGA to WVGA so that more Windows Mobile enthusiasts can enjoy the software, thanks to Zorc.

::AB

Elite Series ROM for HTC Diamond Updated

Albert Bunn — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 01:56:05 +0000

This past July, popular Diamond chef 2 Bunny made a long awaited update to his ever popular Elite ROM series. Updates had been coming rather slowly as the last release had been Spring Break of 2011 and Thanksgiving of 2010. This time, 2 Bunny has made some significant upgrades and fixes in this version of Elite to make it the most complete version ever. The ROM thread tells the story of the ROM’s humble beginnings when 2 Bunny simply could not find a ROM he could depend on and how after asking around a few threads, he found his way to the Diamond OMJ kitchen, and later a special modified version of the Calkulin kitchen that he found by chance on Mediafire. From there, he spent many painstaking hours monitoring countless registry changes in Kheb and fixing them with Agent Ransack. Unlike other chefs, 2 Bunny still talks in the thread and updates the ROM as needed, even after others have “quit” the Diamond ROM development scene. Even to this day, Elite remains a community favorite and is even touted by one PPCGeeker as, “better than Energy Rom”.

If you’re still on the CDMA HTC Diamond and want an excellent Light alternative to the stock ROM, 2 Bunny’s “Elite” may be for you. Head on over to the thread over at PPCGeeks.

::AB

GczII Geocaching Software Updated to version .2.35.76 (7/1)

Albert Bunn — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:20:05 +0000

New Version of NICQUE's popular freeware program, GCzII is released

NICQUE, the popular author of Windows Mobile freeware released a brand new version of GczII on July 1st (version “0.2.35.76”). GczII is a popular freeware Geocaching.com client, where you can search for geocaches by Zipcode, cache name, author’s name, trackables, and of course geographical distance from your current GPS location. For those of you not familiar, Geocaching is a sport which (after registering for a free account on their website) allows you access to the coordinates for thousands and thousands of geocaches worldwide. Each geocache is a container hidden somewhere in public which can be located with the coordinates provided for it on Geocaching.com, which can get you around 10-30 feet from the “cache” (from there, GPS is too imprecise and you must use your wits to find the spoils). When you get to the cache (these can be in parks, parking lots, off a hiking trail, etc.), you can sign the logbook and if the cache is physically large enough (the size of the cache varies wildly – usually a small plastic box though), exchange small trinkets. When you get home, you also sign the log on the site.

GczII saves the user the hassle of not only needing to have a separate GPS receiver, but you also do not have to print off countless cache pages or worry about typing the coordinates just perfectly into a secondary receiver. It is a “green” solution, and also much easier.

::AB

Fuze/Touch Pro Zagg Shield Giveaway

David K — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:25:21 +0000

In the past we’ve brought you some great deals including Zagg discounts and I’ve often gone for the deals myself. But I never installed them on my Fuze actually (I did try them on other phones though) so may as well give them away. Anyway, I have one full body shield and one that’s just the screen to giveaway. Oh and don’t ask why I bought a second one when I never used the first one…I wouldn’t be able to answer that aside from saying that it was on sale so I kept buying. Not sure how many of you are still using Fuzes but if you do (and it’s not too late) may as well protect the sucker for free.

Getting to the details, the full body is listed as HTC Touch Pro GSM (Full Body) and here’s the link to Zagg’s site which they still list for $25. The screen shield is listed as HTC Fuze Screen and here’s the link to Zagg’s site which they list for $15. The screen is just that – a single small sheet that just covers the top portion of the phone. The full body comes with the spray bottle if you want it (it’s just water) but I lost the install squeegee (you can just use a credit card).

Anyway, let my loss be your gain. All you need to do to enter is add a comment to this post. I’ll pick two winners - first gets the full body and the second gets the screen. Only limitation is that I’m only going to ship it within the US…it’s free man:) If you enter more than once only the first entry counts…but you still get a pity vote in my heart for wanting to protect your aging phone. And we’ll run this for a week ending September 2nd at 5pm EST. Now…let’s see if we have two people using Fuzes still

What I’m running/Why I’m upgrading

Matt Anderson — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 21:10:46 +0000

So yeah. I’m sort of ashamed. Like that guy on the right. Not because my Fuze is Windows Mobile, but because everything is so outdated. The Fuze is more than capable of doing just about everything any newer smart phone can do, short of its own hardware limits but 2.8″ of VGA resolution is making me feel inadequate. Anyway, enough hardware talk. You guys know that end. Let’s get started on the software. Rom first.

I flash like a drunk whore at Mardi Gras but I really like the WMPoweruser roms for stability. Energy crashes all the freaking time for me, even with no additional apps. Ever since they got rid of the VGA test devices the Fuze Roms sort of blow. Preinstalled apps are great but I’d rather have a clean ROM because I keep all my apps local on my SD card. Oh and I have 6 different UI’s on my phone as of now. I had winterface but that sucks nuts. No one wants an iPhone. App List and Developer Links after the break!

Before I break down the App list for you I want to give you guys some links. See, the way I find apps is I stumble on a kick ass developer and then I go and find all the other stuff they do. Great way to insure you’re getting top quality apps and good support. So here is a few Grade A WinMo Dev’s: Ageye, ThrottleApps, Igrecway, SPB, and everything else is either on the Marketplace or HERE.

Here we go:
Advanced Config
Associated Press App
Autumn Dynasty Lite (which is tits for a mobile RTS game)

Beejive IM (favorite IM program although their servers go down from time to time.)

Caver (g-sensor game from Ageye)
CleanRam (Always helpful)
G-Alarm (Best Alarm program ever made. Also Ageye)
Google Maps
G-Profile (Profile Switcher by Ageye that is super configurable)

HTC MP3 Trimmer (for making ring tones on the go)
Hunting (Best tower defense game for WinMo)
Ivy the Kiwi (A really creative and unique game for WinMo. Expensive but very awesome.)

Rush Hour and Hangman (Igrecway games that are very well made. Hangman is the shit.)

Rockstar Ate My Ipod (Strategy game about creating a band and becoming awesome. Like Dope Wars but doing drugs instead of selling them!)

IMDB Mobile
MyTunes (Finger friendly WinMedia replacement)
Opera Mobile 10
Open Market
Point UI Home 2 (UI replacement)
SipChange
SPB Backup (Great for the flash whore. Demo gives you 4 backups and I flash so often I’ve never had to pay for it as the demo resets after a hard reset.)
SPB Mobile Shell 2-3.5 (Best UI replacement I know of)
SPB TV 2
Tag Reader
Throttle Launcher
Throttle Lock (Very configurable connect-the-dots lock screen.)
Total Commander (File Explorer and Reg Editor)
Unjumble (untangle all the stuff game. Breaks upon exiting every time but I love it.)
Wisbar Advance (The most configurable UI replacement)
YouTube
WMLonglife

Is Google ignoring the Android Market?

Eric Greenwood — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:25:45 +0000

When I first switched to Android from Windows Mobile, I was amazed by how seamless the transition was. I didn’t hate WinMo exactly. It was more of a love/hate relationship. In fact, I mostly enjoyed flashing it and constantly tweaking settings and updating its various radios and ROMs (mainly thanks to the proprietor of this site, whom some of you may have heard of). But when I finally decided to bail on WinMo, my Nexus One could do everything out of the box that I had to hack my old Fuze to be able to do (and half-assedly at that). And the difference between the Android version of apps versus Windows Mobile ones was staggering. For one thing, legitimate Windows Mobile apps were ridiculously expensive when their iPhone and Android counterparts were either free or a negligible fee. I’ve installed close to 50 apps on my Nexus One and they have all been free. Every last one. And they work. My Fuze was in a constant state of FUBAR. Apps tended to hang far more often than actually work. It was an enormous struggle just to make calls because my GV Dialer would crap out on me 7 times out of 10 (which probably had more to do with my rode-hard Fuze than the app itself). In retrospect I can’t believe how long I put up with all of it. But now that I’ve had my Nexus One for a few months and the Google-phoria has tapered a bit, my perspective is a little more even-keeled. So, I’m only now able to see a few flaws in the land of Google as well. My biggest gripe is with the Android Market, specifically quality control. You seriously have to wade through an enormous amount of crap to find anything worth installing, if you’re just browsing. Windows Mobile didn’t suffer this fate so much because, well, Marketplace barely had a selection to begin with (since nobody was designing apps for the dying-on-the-vine WinMo 6.5). This is the one area Apple and iPhone tend to come out on top. The app store on iPhone, despite its burdensome censorship issues, makes it far easier to find relevant and useful apps. And DVD John (the programmer who decrypted commercial DVD’s) takes the Android Market failings a little deeper on his blog, claiming that Google is falling down on the job both in terms of paying its developers properly and filtering the spam apps. Kyle VanHemert overt at Gizmodo summed it up succinctly enough, “…as the Android Market continues its explosive growth, Google will have to make some changes to ensure that its quality apps don’t get lost amidst the junk.” But if this is Android’s biggest problem, then Google is still sitting pretty.

Push Your Buttons

Doug Simmons — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:21:30 +0000

My biggest complaint about stepping over to the Fuze from the original Tilt was the loss of all those buttons. I liked those buttons. Damnit. Don’t get me started. Have you heard of AEButton? Well it’s a hard button mapper (hard meaning the buttons you can feel on the phone, not buttons to press on the screen, mapping meaning you can tell that button to do something you specify) that’s been around for a while, and I appreciated having had it. The thing is it hits you with a splash screen on boot which I could do without, on some roms it randomly stops working or only works on some buttons and in recent 6.5.5 builds that I’ve used it doesn’t appear to work at all. Not to mention they’ve got a .ru domain …. j/k! Nothing wrong with that. But still.

Not a problem because my main man tarkim hooked us up with Keyboard Controller. “What is it?” tarkim asks himself rhetorically. “It’s a modified keyboard driver with configurator application for keys setup. Any key (yeah, I mean ANY, including Home and Back keys) can be reassigned to perform any desired actions.” So you can assign the volume up button, for instance, to make the volume go up on a single click like it normally does if you love manipulating the volume frequently, to start up Google Maps on a double click, to fire up your RSS reader on a triple click and the camera on a long press, but for any button on the phone including the mute button on the back of the Tilt 2. That should be enough to cover you for all of the programs you regularly use, otherwise you are what they call a power user. And it doesn’t even drop anything in your StartUp folder. That pleases me.

Its configuration interface ain’t winning any beauty contests but if you can’t figure it out, c’mon man step your game up. This is Windows ~~Mobile~~ Phone baby, you’re in the big leagues now. Here are his threads for the Fuze / Touch Pro, the Tilt 2/ Touch Pro2, and the Pure / Touch Diamond2. Note those are unique threads with unique versions for each phone so I encourage you not to click the wrong link. They should work for all carriers’ versions of each phone, and only each of the phones I listed, GSM and CDMA alike.

Doug Simmons

Comments

Extended OEM Batteries for the Fuze, Tilt 2

Doug Simmons — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:25:40 +0000

One thing some of you may have noticed about me is that I’m not in the business of plugging or praising anything related to AT&T. That said, we are all starved for battery life. Me, I have two on me at all times. Now you could go to your local AT&T hut and drop $45 on a battery or you could somewhat safely (be mindful of seller ratings and feedback) dig around eBay for batteries that are thin enough not to require a bigger back cover, but there isn’t much stopping those guys from claiming, exaggerating rather, that their battery has double the capacity of the OEM yet somehow is the same size, or you could reach higher and get a mega battery that does require another door but be advised that back covers for HTC phones for every carrier other than AT&T may not have the right shape and button holes as, for example, every other carrier knows that no one really cares about PTT.

Or you could round up some dough and get yourself an extended OEM battery (by OEM I mean it was cooked up by the same people who made the one that came with the phone) that includes a back cover for the Fuze and Tilt 2. Not that cheap like the third parties but at least you know what you’re getting and according to some of my testing the OEM capacity numbers seem to be legit. Here’s one for the Fuze rated at 1800mAh which is a number, according to calc.exe, that is 33% larger than the 1350mAh that came with the Fuze which you could instead get for a lot less. The guys at WMExperts put on their CNet hat and reviewed the battery, said it’s pretty decent and you can read that and see some pictures to get an idea of how much thicker it will make your phone.

Finally got yourself a Tilt 2? Right on. Well buddy I got your back covered (good pun, right?) with a whopping 2150mAh battery, OEM, that includes the cover. That rating, which I haven’t tested yet because this thing’s too damn expensive, is 43% bigger than the OEM you already have which is rated at 1500mAh. Needless to say you it will need larger back cover and you can grab the two either straight from AT&T for $60 or you can save ten bucks if you trust this guy. That price is kind of ridiculous and you may be better off with another OEM 1500mAh. And you didn’t hear this from me but if you complain to AT&T that your battery is lasting half as long as it used to and that it can’t get you through the day, you might be able to get them to send you one on the house. A smaller one perhaps (I got an 1100mAh) but hey, extra battery.

You’ll be hearing from me soon about third party batteries as I actually invested equipment and hundreds of hours with the help of some electro-geniuses to clock batteries accurately and am turning it into an obsession. Check out the XDA thread, it’s pretty badass what we’re brewing up. It’s in its infancy but if you want to help me expand the list of tested batteries to produce some valuable information and you’re willing to order yourself a battery but have it shipped to me first to test after which I’ll mail it to you, you’d be helping the cause as I want to blow the lid off this whole mess of exaggerated claims. Let me know on XDA or send me a note in the contact form here.

Just so we’re clear, no one’s paying me to put up those links, I just did my best to hunt down the best price from people that didn’t look too sketchy. If you can find any better deals than any of those drop some links in the comments. There’s a lot of mystery with batteries but one thing I can guarantee you is that blog bossman Doug Smith (no relation) is going to email me within ten minutes after I hit the button on this post urging me to start a thread about it in the MobilityDigest forums. He just won’t let that go.

Doug Simmons

A Heap Of New Fuze/Touch Pro Tips & Tricks Added In Our Forums by jimski

Doug Smith — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:02:28 +0000

Wow! I gotta say our forums are blessed with a lot of helpful contributors that go out of their way to help people. Earlier I wrote about norcal colby and his VGA Skull Candy Splash, and now we have jimski adding a HEAP of new tips and tweaks to our Complete List Of Tips & Tricks For The AT&T Fuze & HTC Touch Pro thread which has been viewed over 210,000 times! There are some very good tweaks that everyone should check out. So head on over to our forums and register to take advantage of the collective knowledge of our community. Also, don’t be scared off because it is listed in the Fuze/Touch Pro forum, the majority of these Tips and Tricks are very useful for a lot of other Windows Mobile Devices.

You can check out jimski’s new Tips and Tricks by CLICKING HERE.