Mobility Digest » Touch Pro

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

SciLor’s GrooveMobile Alpha 20 Released

Albert Bunn — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 02:13:15 +0000

Once again, renowned Windows Mobile Developer SciLor has another incredible Windows Mobile release with the introduction of a new version of his popular GrooveMobile (alpha 20, updated August 31st) software. For years, SciLor’s GrooveMobile has helped smartphone users to listen to most any song available on GrooveShark without having to pay for or download the track. While many developers have strayed from the formidable platform that Windows Mobile 6 offers, SciLor is still on the front line and continues to release updates to his GrooveMobile and GrooveDownloaderWM software as needed, in addition to a host of other useful utilities for Windows, Android, and plugins for the “Chrome” browser. GrooveMobile is perfect for those songs that you don’t like quite enough to download and put on your device, but sometimes get bored enough to listen to. It is also great for discovering new music as it has a tab that will show you the software’s hottest selections. When you’ve racked up a formidable playlist of music that you really like, you can grab a copy of SciLor’s GrooveDownloaderWM to download the music as an .MP3 file to your handheld that you can listen to anytime.

::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

Mobility Digest Review: Seidio Multi-Function Battery Charger

Jim Szymanski — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:04:46 +0000

Having an extra battery handy for our power hungry devices (sorry iPhone fanboys) is always a welcome option. But not having a simple way to charge it creates a real hassle. Charging one battery in your phone and then switching out and charging the second is no fun, especially because you need to remain tethered for hours and hours. And the charged spare battery loses juice while it sits around waiting to be used. Stand alone chargers are OK but as soon as you replace your device, your investment becomes obsolete. Wish there was a charger that would work with my current device battery as well as future batteries. Well, my wish has been granted.

The Seidio Multi-Function Battery Charger changes everything. Instead of a dedicated charger for a specific battery, this "why didn’t I think if that" device is comprised of two components; a base and a battery charging plate which is designed for each specific size/shape battery (pretty much everything is 5V today). Currently plates are available for; TouchPro2/Tilt2, Droid Incredible/Evo, Droid2, Eris/Hero, Nexus One, Touch Diamond, TouchPro/Fuze, Tilt, etc. More plates are added as new devices hit the market. Simply pop out one plate and pop in the other and you are ready to start charging. This feature alone would make the charger worth its $29.95 price tag (for base and one plate or $12.95 for a plate alone) but there is more, plenty more.

The Multi-Function Charger lives up to its name as you can use the flip-out, two prong AC plug or connect (with an optional standard USB cable) to any USB port. There is a switch on the side of the charger that allows you change power sources. Additionally, you can plug the charger into an AC outlet (I presume with/without a spare battery) and use the supplied USB to Mini USB (or micro USB) cable to charge both your spare battery and device at the same time. Ingenious. That means this spare battery charger can serve double-duty as an all inclusive travel charger. BTW, the charger handled both my standard and extended capacity battery without issue, as I am sure it would with any extended battery as they all have the same footprint/pin configuration (per device design).

There is a single LED on the front of the unit that turns RED when you insert a discharged/partially discharged battery and changes to GREEN when fully charged. I would not consider this a quick charger, as it might have taken a bit longer to charge my spare battery. But that can be explained with the specs: Input 100-240V, 0.2A – Output: to USB Port: 5V, 1A Max (same as a standard device charger) – Output: to Battery Port: 4.2V, 500mA Max (for a slower trickle charge). Input to USB Port: 5V, 500mA (when charging spare battery via USB). The charger measures: 3.875 x 2.50 x 1.06 and weighs in at about 3.0 oz. (base & plate).

Glad to have found an accessory that won’t become obsolete (like the spare batteries) as soon as I grow tired of my current device. Definitely a keeper. You can find the Multi-Function Charger along with spare/alternate charging plates at Seidio’s site, http://www.seidioonline.com/ or at other online retailers.

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.

VGA Skull Candy Splash

Doug Smith — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:01:22 +0000

I wanted to give a shout out to our forum contributor Norcal Colby for continuing to hook us up with some of his splash goodness. He says:

“I love the aesthetic appeal of my new skull candy SKpro dj headphones. the sound quality is amazing. ive owned two previous pairs of skullcandy headphones (ink’d earbuds and the rasta G.I.s) and ive loved them all. i just decided id put together a splash screen for my favorite headphone brand”

This should work great on your VGA Touch Pro/Fuze/Diamond Device.

Head on over to Mobility Digest Forums and register to download the Skull Candy Splash or just CLICK HERE

MyMobiler Skins For HTC HD2, TP2, and More…

Doug Smith — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 23:51:12 +0000

Let’s face it, everyone is always looking for a good deal. If you are a Windows Mobile device owner, then you are most likely making it your mission in life to find the absolute best freeware possible to replace the very nice, but high priced third party developed software needed to enhance our device. Perfect case in point is Soti’s Pocket Controller software. It is just simply the best, no questions asked. But for the seasoned Windows Mobile Expert that knows how to use Google search and cruise the XDA-Developers forums, then arguably the best freeware solution to Soti is MyMobiler. The software is a little slower, not as feature rich, and never included a cool device skin for capturing screen shots and using the hardware buttons. But now thanks to XDA-Developers you can now skin some of the more popular HTC Devices like the HTC HD2, HTC TP2, HTC Diamond and Touch Pro. Check out some screen shots below:

The HTC HD2 Thread can found here: [Skin] HTC HD2 MyMoblier Skin

The HTC Touch Pro 2 Thread can be found here: [THE] Make a Rhodium/HTCTouchPro2 MyMobiler Skin

The HTC Diamond/Touch Pro can be found here: [THE] Diamond/TouchPro MyMobiler Skin (1/2/09)

MyMobiler can be found here: MyMobiler v1.23 (06/15/2008) – FREEWARE

Doing some digging it looked like there was some other skins available too so if your favorite device was not mentioned, do some digging and odds are good you may come up with a skin for your device. As a side note, you will want to READ the whole thread to each of the links posted. For the instructions on how to install the skins, or CLICK HERE.

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