Bad News on the No Reboot Challenge

Back on August 19th I kicked off the “No Reboot Challenge” by inviting others to join me in not rebooting or forcefully stopping any applications on their Windows Mobile devices. There’s been a number of sites that joined in and took the challenge to their readers. Sadly, after 51 days my BlackJack II decided it wasn’t going to respond to any key presses on the keyboard any longer. I’m not sure what went wrong - I was using the phone one minute, and then tossed it into my pocket and headed out to the car. Once in the car, I went to switch profiles and noticed that the device wasn’t responding.  At first, I thought that somehow I had accidentally shutdown the phone.  However, a quick tap on the power button saw the screen light up. I still couldn’t use any of the keys, but at least I knew the phone was still working.

I did a number of different things over the next couple hours in hopes that it would break out of this state, but I had no luck.  The device responded to the power button, but nothing else. I even called the phone in hopes that it would kick the device out of this state. The phone did update the screen to show the incoming call, but it didn’t respond to me pressing the answer or hang up buttons. After 51 days, I had to pull the battery out if I hoped to continue to use my phone.

I’m happy that I managed to last 51 days, but at the same time, I know that it could have been better. I have no idea what went wrong to cause this. I haven’t changed or added any software to the device.  I haven’t been browsing any new sites - It’s the same standard sites that I read on a regular basis.

I want to try this again, but before I do, I want to update my phone to the official Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM from AT&T and Samsung. I’ll try and do that over the next day or so. I’ll post again and let you know when I’m  ready to start again.

Free Halloween Ringtones From Microsoft

It’s getting close to Halloween and why decorate just your house when you can outfit your smartphone as well. Microsoft has released a collection of Halloween themed ringtones and wallpapers. I didn’t care to much for the wallpapers, but the ringtones are actually pretty good. Check them out for yourself - they’re all free to download (with registration). There’s also a large number of non-Halloween related sounds and images.  So if you’re simply bored with what you have, it’s a worth while place to visit.