Oct
11
Written by: Mike Temporale
Saturday, October 11, 2008 10:00am
 A couple weeks ago, Palm began shipping their latest Windows Mobile Smartphone - the Treo Pro. I was fortunate enough to have a chance to play with this device prior to it’s release. I’m not going to review the device here - plenty of sites have already done that. I will, however, share a couple quick thoughts I have about the device.
The first thing you’ll notice about the Treo Pro is it’s size. You don’t get much smaller for a touch screen Windows Mobile device with a full QWERTY keyboard.It fits very nicely into your pocket without any of the bulk that we see on many of the touch screen devices.
What trade-offs did Palm make to achieve the form factor? Well, they didn’t skip on the connectivity options. The Treo Pro sports quad band GSM with 3G data speeds as well as WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. What more could you ask for! I know, you’re saying a fast processor with lots of memory. Done, and done. The Treo Pro has a 400MHz CPU with 256MB of memory and will work with MicroSD cards up to 32GB.
Ok, so if it’s not connectivity options or processor and memory limitations, then what did Palm trim? Well, the biggest thing you’ll notice right away (or should I say small) is the screen. Palm has kept with their trademark square screen and due to the physical size of the device, this screen is small.
The other thing that I didn’t really care for, is the keyboard layout. As someone who does a lot of email and instant messaging from my phone, there are certain characters that I expect to see and enter easily. After a couple days of use I found it very frustrating every time I needed to use a comma or a question mark. Both of those letters require the press of the function key before you can use them.
Neither of these things are really a big deal. Would I buy one? You know, I think I would. If I wasn’t enjoying my BlackJack II as much as I am.
In case you’re looking for a more in-depth review, may I suggest one of the following reviews: GearDiary, Palm Info Center, Engadget Mobile, and Tracy & Matt’s Blog,
|
Sep
12
Written by: Mike Temporale
Friday, September 12, 2008 8:45am
 A couple months ago I published an article that details the steps required to remove the network settings lock that has been turned on by AT&T with their Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM update for the BlackJack II (and PanTech Dual - if it’s ever released). The steps require you to application unlock the phone and install a registry editor so you can modify a couple values in the registry. While it’s not very difficult, I can imagine that some people are nervous about editing the registry or even application unlocking the phone. Now there’s a quick, easy, and downright simple solution to removing the read only lock placed on the network settings. Follow the steps below and you will have that locked removed in no time!
- Open the File Explorer (found under Start \ All Programs \ Applications \ File Explorer) and browse to the Windows folder. Once in the Windows folder you are looking for an application called “UAMgr”. The quickest way to get to this file is to push the letter U on the keyboard and the phone will jump down to the files that start with U.
- Run UAMgr by highlighting the file and pressing down on the action button. When the application opens you will see a screen that says “UAPMgr/Streaming” in the top title bar and “UA/Streaming Manager 2008″ in the center of the screen.
- Press the Menu \ Tool \ Unlock ReadOnly. The phone will then present you with a confirmation screen indicating that Read Only has been unlocked. Press OK and then Close and you’re done.
Special thanks to encece for helping locate this tool. I’ve tested it on a couple of my phones and it works great.
|
Sep
9
Written by: Mike Temporale
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 8:30am
I recently made some server changes to one of my email accounts. Basically, the mail server changed from mail.ServerA.com to mail.ServerB.com. A completely new server name and new DNS entry, but everything else stayed the same. It’s the same email address, same account name, same password, etc… So it should have been a really simple change to make on my various email clients. I changed the server names on my desktop Outlook client without any problems. Simple / easy are not terms that I can use for the switch when it comes to Outlook Mobile.
 The required DNS changes were made at approximately 2pm on Saturday. I went into the Send/Receive settings in Outlook Mobile for the account in question and changed the server names. Then I attempted to do a send/receive. Unfortunately, it just sat at the “Connecting…” prompt for a long time and eventually came back and said it was unable to communicate with the server and that I should check that I have an active data connection. Normally, I would just restart the phone and that would force Outlook Mobile to re-read the server settings and all would be good. As you may already know, that’s not currently an option for me. So I needed to find a way to have the device pick up the changes without killing Outlook Mobile or restarting the phone. [more...]
|
Sep
3
Written by: Mike Temporale
Wednesday, September 3, 2008 10:00pm
 Now that Samsung has made the Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM upgrade official for the BlackJack II, I should take a minute and remind everyone about the post I made a while back that helps you to unlock the carrier networks settings. This is a new feature that was added to Windows Mobile 6.1 by special request of the carriers who are looking for ways to reduce support calls from people that toy around with the network settings and don’t know what they are doing.
Of course, anyone with a unlocked BlackJack II that is looking to use the phone on a different network will need to unlock these settings and modify them to match the settings for their carriers network.
You can read the original post with full details on how to remove the lock over here. And to everyone that’s upgrading, enjoy the new ROM and while you’re flashing your device, why not take on the No Reboot Challenge. What better time then right after a fresh and clean install of the OS. 
|
Aug
21
Written by: Mike Temporale
Thursday, August 21, 2008 7:00am
 I was just posting an update to my progress in the “No Reboot Challenge” when I noticed something interesting; Internet Explorer Mobile is using almost 24MB on my device. What could be the reason for this? It’s not like the page I have open is huge or anything. In fact, it’s just the mobile home page of Twitter. Considering that the non-mobile version of the page is just 61,253 bytes, I can’t imagine the mobile version is somehow 22.9MB larger!
I wonder if this is some sort of error in reporting how memory is actually being used by IE Mobile, perhaps it should be 2.35MB? I’m pretty sure that it’s not showing the total downloaded via IE Mobile for that season. I might do a fair amount of Twitter, Netvibes, and Mobile Olympics coverage, but I can’t see it being 24MB in the last 24 or so hours since I hard reset the device.
At the Windows Mobile 6.1 announcement, Microsoft promised to release IE 6 on Windows Mobile 6.1. If this is any indication of what we can expect, then I’m happy without seeing the functionality of IE 6 making its way to my device!
Anyone have any idea’s what might be the cause of this weird memory usage might be?
|
Aug
19
Written by: Mike Temporale
Tuesday, August 19, 2008 1:30pm
In my recent post about stability, I talked about Windows Mobile and how it is a stable platform. The source of all that instability is poorly written 3rd party applications. To help prove my point, I’m taking on the “No Reboot Challenge”. The idea is simple, no more reboots of my phone for any reason and let’s see how long I can go before it starts acting funny or crashing. Furthermore, I won’t be killing or stopping any process’s. I’ll leave that up to Windows Mobile and Microsoft to see if they truly know best when it comes to managing memory on the device. The only applications that I will close are ones that have an Exit option in the menu.
To get the ball started on the right foot, I’m going to hard reset my device so I can be sure that there’s nothing weird hanging around in there. I’m doing this on a Samsung BlackJack II with a near final build of Windows Mobile 6.1. From what I’ve been told, this is what will be shipped on upcoming BlackJack II’s from AT&T. If you’re following along and taking the challenge with me, it doesn’t really matter what version of Windows Mobile you have on your device. I just ask that it’s the production ROM and not something that’s been cooked up and downloaded from the internet. The changes added into those illegal ROMs could easily be a source of instability.
After hard resetting the device, I need to ActiveSync it with my laptop to get all my Contacts, calendar, etc.. synced to it. Also, there are a couple applications that I can’t do without. So I’ve installed the following: Ilium’s eWallet, Sling Media’s SlingPlayer Mobile, Modaco’s Smartphone GPS Utility, and Microsoft’s Live Search. I use these applications on an almost daily basis and can’t imagine being without those. I also need to add my the data settings for my network so I can actually use data on the device. The last thing to do is configure email on the device. I’ve added 2 email accounts and both are set to pull email from the last 3 days and will do that every 60 minutes.
That’s it - that’s all the changes / additions I’ve made to the default configuration of this device. From now on I won’t reboot the device or close programs. I’ll be making updates to this post on a regular basis over the coming weeks reporting on how things are going. The success of my mobility is in the hands of Microsoft.
UPDATE (August 20 @ 10:10pm) - Everything has been going very well so far. I always forget how much there is to setup and configure on a freshly reset device. I went to use my JawBone Bluetooth headset only to learn that it hasn’t been paired with the phone since it was reset. Not a big deal, but it does make it a little hard to use. ;) I also noticed that my mobile favorites had not synced back to the device. If I recall, this is a bug with the Windows Mobile Device Center. Annoying, but again, not the end of the world.
I’ve included a screen shot of the task manager so you can see what applications are running on the device. The items that are below the fold are Ilium’s Screen Capture tool and the Task Manager itself.
|
Jul
31
Written by: Mike Temporale
Thursday, July 31, 2008 12:15pm
 Back on April 1st 2008, Microsoft stood on the stage at CTIA Wireless 2008 and announced the availability of Windows Mobile 6.1. This updated mobile OS is suppose to help broaden the consumer appeal and at the same time address the increasingly complex mobile needs of the enterprise customer. The new setup wizard would help get up and running in minutes - from configuring email to Bluetooth adapters, the setup wizard makes it simple to get connected. Microsoft also added their System Center Mobile Device Manager goodness to the device, so enterprise should be able to manage these devices easier than in the past.There’s lots of good things in Windows Mobile 6.1, but the real question is; Where is it? At CTIA Microsoft said that devices will become available in the second quarter of 2008. Well, I hate to break the bad news, but that’s come and gone. We have a small sprinkling of devices available today - HTC Diamond, HP 910, and the new Sprint Treo. However, all of these just recently hit the streets. We’re not in the second quarter any more. In fact, we’re almost half way through the third quarter, and these are the only devices available.
At the time of the press release, Microsoft listed 25 devices that would get Windows Mobile 6.1. The new HP device wasn’t even on the list. The Sprint Treo was on the list and if you consider HTC’s Diamond to be “a new Touch Dual for the US” then we can scratch two devices off the list. Oh, and HTC did release an OS update for the TyTN II - although I’ve heard it doesn’t run very well. What happened to everyone else? What’s the hold up? Windows Mobile 6.1 has been code complete for a while, the announcement was made long after the final version of the OS was handed out to manufacturers and partners. By the time these devices really start to hit the market, people will have lost the lust and desire and will have moved on to a new device. Getting the product to market in a timely matter after the announcement is a key factor in success. Microsoft needs to have a closer relationship with the manufacturers and partners so they can better time the announcements and release of products.
|
Jun
26
Written by: Mike Temporale
Thursday, June 26, 2008 7:30am
This has long been something that owners of the BlackJack II have complained about. The scroll wheel is a pretty good idea, but it takes too much to make it go around. One full rotation is required to move the highlighted item by 1 step. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done with the original BlackJack II.
However, if you have a BlackJack II that is running Windows Mobile 6.1, you’re in luck. First off, Samsung has addressed the speed issue from the get-go. Now, a quarter turn will move the highlighted item by 1. Which in turn means that 1 full rotation is the same as moving 4 places. There’s no interface for adjusting the speed of the scroll wheel, however, if you’re still looking for more from your scroll wheel there is a registry location that you can play around with.
Using your favorite registry editor, browse to HKLM / Software / Samsung / KeyRun. In this location you should see a entry called WheelSpeed with a value of 1. I changed this to a number of different values, but the only one that seemed to make a difference was 0 (Zero). No reboot is required after making the change. I simply closed the application and then relaunched it (You might even be able to skip that step, but I wanted to be sure). Now, with 1 full rotation, I can move 12 spots in the list. It’s not the same level of responsiveness as the i620, but it’s much better than before.
And for everyone that is wondering if they can put this setting on their BlackJack II running Windows Mobile 6; the answer is no. I did try that and there was no change on the device - that I noticed anyway.
Happy scrolling!
|
Jun
15
Written by: Mike Temporale
Sunday, June 15, 2008 11:23pm
Windows Mobile 6.1 adds a new level of locking to your device. Along side the standard Carrier lock, SIM lock, and Application lock, you will now find a lock for the carriers data network settings. This lock prevents you from modifying the carriers pre-loaded data settings. Why would anyone want to lock those settings? The answer is simple, to reduce the number of support calls from customers who have screwed them up. However, there are some people, like me, that need to modify those values. From what I’ve been able to gather on this, AT&T appears to be the only carrier that has actually turned this feature on. I’m sure this will change, but for now, it’s just AT&T.
But don’t worry, I’ve got the details on what you need to do to unlock this setting and let you change the values as needed. Before I get into the steps I need to give the standard disclaimer about modifying your device. I don’t know what effect this will have on your contract with AT&T - I imagine none, but who knows. Also, there is a chance that you can really mess up your device by changing the registry. If you’re not comfortable with making changes to the registry, I would recommend you don’t attempt these steps. So, with that out of the way, on with the details.
- Before we can make any changes, we need disable the application lock on the device. In this case, since it’s a BlackJack II device I recommend downloading the GPS Unlock tool from MoDaCo. This small CAB file will setup the built-in GPS to work on COM4 and also start the application unlock process. Once you’ve installed it on your device, download SDA_ApplicationUnlock and run it on your computer with your phone on ActiveSync (or WMDC). Congratulations, your BlackJack II is now application unlocked.
- If you don’t have a registry editor for your device, download one and install it. For editing the registry on the device, I recommend PHM. If you want to do it from your desktop, then try SOTI’s Pocket Controller Pro.
- Using the registry editor, browse to the following location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Comm \ ConnMgr \ Providers \ {7C4B7A38-5FF7-4bc1-80F6-5DA7870BB1AA} \ Connections \ AT&T IMS
- In this location you should find a key called ReadOnly with a value of 1. Change this to 0 (that’s a zero, not an O). You’ve now unlocked the first GPRS setting.
- Now, browse to the following location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Comm \ ConnMgr \ Providers \ {7C4B7A38-5FF7-4bc1-80F6-5DA7870BB1AA} \ Connections \ MEdia Net
- Once again, you will see a key by the name of ReadOnly with a value of 1. Change this to 0 (that’s a zero, not an O). You’ve now unlocked the second GPRS setting.
- Finally, browse to this location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Comm \ ConnMgr \ Providers \ {EF097F4C-DC4B-4c98-8FF6-AEF805DC0E8E} \ AT&T WAP
- And once again you will find a key by the name of ReadOnly. Change this to a 0 (that’s a zero, not an O). You’ve now unlocked the Proxy value.
That’s everything you need to do. Now you’re free to modify or disable the pre-configured settings to suit your needs. One thing to note: Each of the those registry locations had a long unique string after Providers. This will be the same for any Samsung BlackJack II device with Windows Mobile 6.1. However, I don’t expect that it would be the same for another device. So, if you’ve found your device has these locks and it’s not a BlackJack II, you will need to browse the entries under Providers to figure out which one is the right one. Please post the correct values along with your phone in the comments so that others can benefit from the knowledge.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
October 2008
| Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
Sun |
| « Sep |
|
|
| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
