Database Users

Just got my XDA Exex - A few questions

I just upgraded from an XDAii, and obviously there are many advantages, but also many disadvantages. Let me run through a few of my qualms and see if you can help with any.
1. Less "toolbars" in programs
For example, the photo album app in XDAii had a row of buttons for slideshow, start, stop, full screen, rotate, etc etc.... Most of this is accessible through the menu system, but full screen seems to be missing comletely.
Also the calendar comes to mind. The row of buttons for day, week, month and year was a godsend
2. speaker screech
Anything over a certain noise level seems to come though in a really piercing way that I have to hold the phoneawayfrom my ear
3. Phone pad not working in messaging
The phone pad entry method, the one that replicates the keypad of a normal mobile phone, cannot be used for the thing it would be most commonly used for - SMS messaging. WHY?!?!
4. Phone "themes" missing
Remember in the photo contacts app, where you could apply different themes to contacts when they call, like the row of carrots, or the glistening heart? What happened to that?
5. Less hardware buttons
The contacts and calendar hardware buttons have been replaced by an extra row on the screen. Yes, there are buttons on the keyboard which link to them, but that doesn't help me when trying to configure 3 control buttons in Worms, does it.
6. Add ringtones?
Ok we have ups and downs here. On the plus side, MP3 ringtones are now supported. On the flipside, you can't file them into folders, they have to place in the My Documents route directory in order to be accessible. Is there a way round this?
I hope someone can help me. Any info you can give will be much appreciated

GaZ said:
1. Less "toolbars" in programs
For example, the photo album app in XDAii had a row of buttons for slideshow, start, stop, full screen, rotate, etc etc.... Most of this is accessible through the menu system, but full screen seems to be missing comletely.
Also the calendar comes to mind. The row of buttons for day, week, month and year was a godsend
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is an annoying one and I don't know of a fix for it. The first part is down the to album program I think, if it is just called 'Pictures' then it is the one which came with mine too and it isn't very good at all. I replaced it with Resco Photo Viewer. As for the calendar part, those buttons you mentioned are accessed through 'menu' - again, annoying and takes more time.

Anyone?

hmmmm...... oki doki, not sure if i can help.... but lets step through....
I just upgraded from an XDAii, and obviously there are many advantages, but also many disadvantages. Let me run through a few of my qualms and see if you can help with any.
BEFORE WE GET TO FAR, THERE ARE ISSUES HERE, MANY OF THEM, AND THEY MAY OUTWEIGH THE ADVANTAGES.
1. Less "toolbars" in programs
For example, the photo album app in XDAii had a row of buttons for slideshow, start, stop, full screen, rotate, etc etc.... Most of this is accessible through the menu system, but full screen seems to be missing comletely.
THE M$ VERSIONS ARE EXTREMELY CUT DOWN, BRIEF FUNCTIONALITY, AND THIS IS THE FIRST THAT DOESNT COMPARE TO PURCHASABLE OPTIONS, AND THERE ARE A VARIETY OF THEM.
IN THE END, ITS STILL OK, BUT NEXT TO USELESS.
AGREE, USE RESCO, BUT BEWARE IT IN ITSELF IS MEMORY HUNGRY FOR THE FUNCTION.
Also the calendar comes to mind. The row of buttons for day, week, month and year was a godsend
ITS STILL IN THE OPTIONS, BUT IF THAT IS YOUR ONLY COMPLAINT ON CALENDAR, THEN YOUR DOING WELL.
2. speaker screech
Anything over a certain noise level seems to come though in a really piercing way that I have to hold the phoneawayfrom my ear
DONT GET IT, GETS A BIT TINNY AT HIGH VOLUME. GS PLAYER HAS A BASE AND EQUALISER BUILT IN AND PLAYS BETTER QUALITY SOUND THAN M$, AND IS FREE.
3. Phone pad not working in messaging
The phone pad entry method, the one that replicates the keypad of a normal mobile phone, cannot be used for the thing it would be most commonly used for - SMS messaging. WHY?!?!
DIDNT YOU GET THE UNIVERSAL THAT HAD A KEYBOARD!!!???
4. Phone "themes" missing
Remember in the photo contacts app, where you could apply different themes to contacts when they call, like the row of carrots, or the glistening heart? What happened to that?
NEVER USED THEMES, STARTED TO USE PICTURES WHICH IS AVAILABLE, ALONG WITH INDIVIDUAL RING TONES (INDIVIDUALLY THOUGH, NOT BY CATEGORY WHICH IS PAINFUL WHEN YOU HAVE LOTS). CANT YOU JUST APPLY THE THEME LIKE YOU WOULD A PICTURE? INSIDE CONTACTS.
5. Less hardware buttons
The contacts and calendar hardware buttons have been replaced by an extra row on the screen. Yes, there are buttons on the keyboard which link to them, but that doesn't help me when trying to configure 3 control buttons in Worms, does it.
I ALSO APPLIED THE "VIDEO CALL" BUTTON TO CALENDAR, AND THERE IS A CUSTOMISABLE BUTTON FOR CONTACTS THAT ARE NEXT TO THE TWO SOFT KEY BUTTONS. THE MOMENT YOU GO INSIDE AN APP, THE SOFT KEYS CHANGE, AND I ALWAYS NEED QUICK ACCESS TO CONTACTS AND CALENDAR, SO IN EFFECT ON A TODAY SCREEN, I HAVE TWO BUTTONS TO ACCESS CONTACTS/CALENDAR.
6. Add ringtones?
Ok we have ups and downs here. On the plus side, MP3 ringtones are now supported. On the flipside, you can't file them into folders, they have to place in the My Documents route directory in order to be accessible. Is there a way round this?
\WINDOWS\RINGS
BUT STILL NO SUB DIRECTORIES, BUT AT LEAST THEY DONT CLUTTER A USELESS MYDOCS.
I hope someone can help me. Any info you can give will be much appreciated
AGAIN, THERE ARE MUCH GREATER ISSUES IN THE UNIVERSAL THAN THOSE MENTIONED ABOVE. I THINK IF THAT IS ALL YOU HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT, AND YOU ARE HAPPY WITH EVERYTHING ELSE, BE GRATEFUL.

I realise there are many side steps around my issues, but they're some of the thing that made me love my XDAii. Like the hardware buttons, made it so easy to use PocketSNES. You turned it sideways and instantly had a d-pad on your left, and 4 buttons on your right (just like a SNES pad). And calendar, I know it has the options on the menu, but I miss the quick functionality.
Oh, and yes my Exec obviously does have the QWERTY keypad, but this isn't always conveniant when walking, or holding many bags, or drinking in a crowded pub. The phone pad was the texting solution I've been waiting for for years, and doesn't work in the application it's needed most in :x
Thanks for informing me of the windows\rings folder. That's one bonus at least.
So what are your qualms with the Exec? I'm guessing deeper things like memory useage and stuff?

none really, I am happy thru n thru
weight n size perhaps. the price for a double thumb keyboard...
I just read a lot of negative comments and complaints and few people saying how good it is overall for price n quantity of gadgets in such a small package.

Ok, The toolbar thing is a bit annoying at first, but you get used to it and I prefer the aesthetics of a 'cleaner' looking screen without all sorts of icons at the bottom making everything look untidy (personal preference though). Lack of hardware buttons on the face of the phone when it's in PDA mode is not something I've even thought about, but I can see how it would cause issues for game-players. Bit of a shame, but I doubt if it's a consideration for many OEM's, they don't really build WM phones with gaming ergonomics as a high priority issue...
Not had problems with the speaker, and sticking ringtones in the \Windows\Rings folder is good enough for me - why would you need to sub-categorise them? Unless you have dozens of them that you change on a daily basis?
I'm interested in your comment that the "Phone pad" doesn't work in the Messaging app though? Mine works perfectly well...is this something that others have problems with? Maybe you have a dodgy ROM or something?
Oh, and I never knew that the theme could be changed depending on who was calling? Didn't that take aaaaages, and slow the response of the phone down to a crawl!?

sub69 said:
Ok, The toolbar thing is a bit annoying at first, but you get used to it and I prefer the aesthetics of a 'cleaner' looking screen without all sorts of icons at the bottom making everything look untidy (personal preference though). Lack of hardware buttons on the face of the phone when it's in PDA mode is not something I've even thought about, but I can see how it would cause issues for game-players. Bit of a shame, but I doubt if it's a consideration for many OEM's, they don't really build WM phones with gaming ergonomics as a high priority issue...
Not had problems with the speaker, and sticking ringtones in the \Windows\Rings folder is good enough for me - why would you need to sub-categorise them? Unless you have dozens of them that you change on a daily basis?
I'm interested in your comment that the "Phone pad" doesn't work in the Messaging app though? Mine works perfectly well...is this something that others have problems with? Maybe you have a dodgy ROM or something?
Oh, and I never knew that the theme could be changed depending on who was calling? Didn't that take aaaaages, and slow the response of the phone down to a crawl!?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never knew about the windows\rings folder before posting this so that answered that one.
As for phone pad, it definitely isn't working in messaging, so I may try a newer ROM, but only if it can be downloaded from the official O2 site.
The phone themes, did indeed slow it down, but I thought rather than exclude them they'd work on it and make them better.

GaZ said:
The phone pad was the texting solution I've been waiting for for years, and doesn't work in the application it's needed most in :x
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously, you must be the only person on this planet that was wishing for that - you have a keyboard and a keyboard on the screen... what the heck :shock:

beachmeat said:
GaZ said:
The phone pad was the texting solution I've been waiting for for years, and doesn't work in the application it's needed most in :x
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously, you must be the only person on this planet that was wishing for that - you have a keyboard and a keyboard on the screen... what the heck :shock:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As you may have read if you looked at my previous reply, the keyboard is no good for one handed use (ie: whilst holding a pint in a crowded pub)

Wi-Fi Hotkey

Just spent the day playing around with the Tytn 2 and I got to say apart from the flip up screen, HSDPA, and a few small registry edits its pretty much the same as a Herald. The gap is even smaller when you add in the fact that the new custom roms for the herald have an even newer build and touchflo (with the cube which the kaiser is missing) packaged together.
One feature that I liked though (part of the few small registry edits) is when you press [FN+Wi-Fi] on the keyboard it turns on wi-fi instead of opening the comm manager. I'm not sure about you guys but I think this is a great feature considering that the comm manager never closes itself.
Can anyone with prior knowledge of how the keyboard shortcuts work (registry location???) let me know how I can add this feature to my phone. I guess if it comes down to it I can borrow it again and create a registry dump but I hope it doesn't come down to that.
And while i'm on the topic of comparing these two phones does anyone think its theoretically possible to encase a Herald into the housing of a Kaiser...just a thought.
Cheers

neptune said:
And while i'm on the topic of comparing these two phones does anyone think its theoretically possible to encase a Herald into the housing of a Kaiser...just a thought.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL @ that idea but i also think that the keycombination for switching on WiFi is pretty nice goog finding

Is This Possible??

Alright Peeps, ok, firstly i bought a Charmer (MDA Compact 2 / WM5) it was pink and i decided to change the housing/shell. I opted for the O2 XDA NEO Case as i liked the black, smooth sides, chrome earpiece & Buttons. I know your all thinking why, but i've tried it and every part fits perfectly apart from the button arrangement, I was just wondering if i bought a O2 XDA NEO Keypad which has the exact same connection type as the MDA Compact 2 just the extra 2 buttons, could this work out of the box and recognise all buttons or at least the usual 4 buttons work correctly?, or is there, or could one be made, an application that the buttons could be assigned? please any help would be appreciated, as i love modding my charmer from the wise information within XDA-DEV, your the only site i'd look to for honest answers.
Cheers Bren.

just an opinion, don't go spending money because of it
but from my experience doing similar things with htc smartphones, I reckon it should work, but i doubt it will recognise the extra buttons...
maybe with a cooked ROM?...i don't know.

triplejay said:
just an opinion, don't go spending money because of it
but from my experience doing similar things with htc smartphones, I reckon it should work, but i doubt it will recognise the extra buttons...
maybe with a cooked ROM?...i don't know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
could there not be some registry tweaks? like adding the buttons manually and moving the others?
i have a button remapping software, but this may be more useless than usefull, i think (it'll probably just move the buttons around) i've bought the shell already and fitted it all buttons work and are in correct place, just the keypad... I'll buy the keypad and fit it coming up to christmas, i'll let you all know the outcome, so if there is any charmers that wish to charm with a prophet/XDA NEO case to the full, i will have the answer.
Any ROM Chefs or Registry Raiders? Help would be appreciated here...
or just shine a little light on the subject.

I think the person who might be able to shed some light is vlodeck, he is a very knowledgeable guy, and he ported gullum's ROM from prophet to charmer
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=1446686&postcount=1
as a mod, he will probably see this thread anyway, and his time is valuable etc etc, so I am definitely not advocating pestering him
....so wait a while but in case it gets missed, FYI in his sig there is a link to PM "if you need help"
*edit, I have no new information right now so I'm not gonna bump this thread but I have to say...
just saw your other thread, and the one word answer;
rtfwplsthx
made me spit coffee all over my monitor as I LOL'd
(translation - read the f***ing wiki please, thanks.)
I understood it, as I've probably spent too much time reading forums like this one recently

Hi guys
I finally read this thread Yes, I do check up the Charmer forums from time to time.
Ok, as to the question. I don't really do the cooking stuff at this time. Basically because I'm not a windows user anymore but there are registry values for soft keys and buttons. I won't tell you were it exactly is right now, but it's there. And taking myself a little in the past I recall some major problems with setting up the keys in WM6 for charmer, you remember it right? Those calendar and contacts buttons were assigned to Start Menu and OK keys, which were unconfigurable, in the registry at least. So my call is, those buttons you want to make work are hardly worth the potential time spent to actually get them working

Hi, the buttons you had trouble with kinda goes with what i want, like you said the bottom two buttons (calendar/contacts) were start menu and ok, as the keypad for the o2 xda neo has start menu and ok as standard bottom two, so that doesn't need changing (that sound like a bonus to me ) the top two will probably get recognised as the answer/endcall buttons (which is not that bad come to think of it, if buttons cannot be configured). its just the two silver answer/endcall present on the xda neo keyboard which probably wont get recognised, and if not, would there be a way in the registry to ADD them, so it would be a little different than altering settings already there? sort of copying all registry settings for one button and adding it alongside another button setting with some configuration.
Thanks Guys...

Well the Buttons worked straight away, charmer to prophet (lookalike)... all the 6 buttons were recognized instead of 4, and all in the right places. thanks anyway.

This is something that can benefit ALL HTC Touch Screen Devices

I have been trying to work on something that will enable some sort of Haptic feed back on my XV6800. The Haptic feed back is a feature that enables vibration to the screen when you press on the screen. Such as the Voyager.
I dont intend to try and make this just to work with the XV6800 but for ALL HTC Touch Screen Devices and if it can others too.
There is a feature on my phone and on many others that allows our phones to play a sound when the screen is taped. I thought of an idea of why not replace the sound with vibration?
There is already a CAB out there that changes the dial tone into a vibration feedback ( when you press the dial buttons ) but it doesnt do much for the rest of the applications or screen.
So far I have been working on this for a couple of days but havent had much time to put much effort into it.
I was hoping that some developers / hackers can help out the cause and help develope or create a feature that enables this on ALL HTC Touch Screen Devices.
If I do find a way to do this I'll post my findings here, but any help to make this a reality would be gladly appreciated.

I was just reading about this very thing HERE: http://www.immersion.com/vt/haptics-for-mobile.php
I was wondering if somebody was going to give it a try. Good luck with it, BOO

it has already been done, and someone posted it up on these forums a while ago, probably buried extremely deeply by now... i forgot the name but i just know it's out there and although it worked, i quickly worried about battery life/hardware issues, so i uninstalled. i'll try to find it for you

bootheresa said:
I was just reading about this very thing HERE: http://www.immersion.com/vt/haptics-for-mobile.php
I was wondering if somebody was going to give it a try. Good luck with it, BOO
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. I am hoping that we can get this done.
I mean we are constantly trying to make our touch screen devices finger friendly. We enlarge buttons, the creation of Touch FLO and the Cube, enlarging menus and so on.
My theory is why not combine all these I deas with Haptic feedback and make it even more finger friendly and try to limit the use of the stylus. If made possible this would be able to work on any HTC Touch screen device or any WM Touch screen device out there.
This would also help users that have a hard time inputing anything into their phone. For example, some one trying to make a text message through t9 or even less then that just pressing on the screen to access a short cut with out having to pound their touch screen until it inputs that they are trying to press. This would help with that because it will acknowledge the input that was made.
Just an Idea

Azimuth21 said:
it has already been done, and someone posted it up on these forums a while ago, probably buried extremely deeply by now... i forgot the name but i just know it's out there and although it worked, i quickly worried about battery life/hardware issues, so i uninstalled. i'll try to find it for you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If this has been made possible for the entire touch screen and all applications including the standard OS please inform me of this find. I would gladly appreciate it.

yeah it was an application that ran in the background (maybe as a service, i don't remember), but every single tap created a vibrate feedback. argh i just looked around for it and i have no idea where to find it. it was in some thread, someone's reply had the app attached to it. something about how he knew someone who was working on it, and waited for that person's permission to post the app here on xda-dev. sigh.

Azimuth21 said:
yeah it was an application that ran in the background (maybe as a service, i don't remember), but every single tap created a vibrate feedback. argh i just looked around for it and i have no idea where to find it. it was in some thread, someone's reply had the app attached to it. something about how he knew someone who was working on it, and waited for that person's permission to post the app here on xda-dev. sigh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. If it has been done already I wonder if we can replicate it and put it on this thread. That is if you dont find the link to the page or the program it self.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=354890&highlight=Vibrate&page=2
Around post #15. I do not know if it works or not..

appless03 said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=354890&highlight=Vibrate&page=2
Around post #15. I do not know if it works or not..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks this is a good find.
Ill see if i can make it available using another method. Because they reported that it worked on every other tap of the screen and that it runs the battery down faster too.
What I might try to do is have mine work but have the option to disable it ( like the way you do when you disable screen tap sounds) to save battery power.

[email protected]$ said:
Thanks this is a good find.
Ill see if i can make it available using another method. Because they reported that it worked on every other tap of the screen and that it runs the battery down faster.
What I might try to do is have mine work but have the option to disable it ( like the way you do when you disable screen tap sounds) to save battery power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hay [email protected]$
True like u said, i've tried it 2, but it do not respond to every fingertouch, if u can figur a way for an app that will respond 2 every touch even the small ones (where u don'nt need 2 hold for a sek before it regonise and verb.).. that will be really great

Cobra2 said:
Hay [email protected]$
True like u said, i've tried it 2, but it do not respond to every fingertouch, if u can figur a way for an app that will respond 2 every touch even the small ones (where u don'nt need 2 hold for a sek before it regonise and verb.).. that will be really great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far I have planned some steps on ways to do it through the registry but it is not perfect. I am not an expert programmer but I can give it a shot, but it might take a while since I am not as great as the experts here in XDA.
But I'll do what I can. If I do find a solution I will post it here, but any help to make this project possible would be great.

I would be happy if my phone would just vibrate on keyboard input.

I am running this older vibro cab. Works very well however...
The vibration lasts aslong as your finger has contact on the screen. It would be better if it just gave a quick blip of vibro each touch maybe?
When you slide a cube etc it virbos the whole movement.
MM

MaxMotus said:
I am running this older vibro cab. Works very well however...
The vibration lasts aslong as your finger has contact on the screen. It would be better if it just gave a quick blip of vibro each touch maybe?
When you slide a cube etc it virbos the whole movement.
MM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you happen to have the CAB with you? Maybe I can find a way to change the effect this program does when you press the screen and lower the vibration feed back.
If I can do that then I can maybe create some registry settings to make the same effect but just replacing the sound that is emulated when you tap the screen. That way you can disable it or enable it when you want it. ( In case you need to save battery or something )

The length of the vibration should be shorter, other than that it's a really good tool.

wow i must be stupid. i just posted a thread about this yesterday. anyway, it'd be cool if we could figure out a way to just incorporate it into the registry, probly wouldn't use as much battary and stuff then.

This has been done already on this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=354890&page=2. On the second page, Kpyto posted a download link for it. I haven't tested it yet though so I can't tell you how well it works.

hows this coming along?

I tried the VOA program mentioned above, but i don't really like it - it's simply annoying by vibrating all the time when scrolling trough lists, or attempting to bring up a tap-and-hold context menu. Not to mention additional battery drain caused by the motor running for such long periods of time.
For me, much better screen tap confirmation is a very short vibra pulse - i often use Vibrate(50) as a confirmation in my mortscripts. That's only 50 milliseconds, but it' enough to be clearly felt, and since the motor is powered only for such short time, it causes almost no additional battery drain. I'd really love to see an application creating such confirmation instead of the screen tap sound.
I'd just like it to have customizable vibration time - since the minimal time needed to make vibration even noticeable can probably vary from device to device, and play nice with fTouchFlo - since both capture touchscreen events there are probably possible conflicts.
Good luck with the development. I hope you'll be able to realize this great idea

mr_deimos said:
I tried the VOA program mentioned above, but i don't really like it - it's simply annoying by vibrating all the time when scrolling trough lists, or attempting to bring up a tap-and-hold context menu. Not to mention additional battery drain caused by the motor running for such long periods of time.
For me, much better screen tap confirmation is a very short vibra pulse - i often use Vibrate(50) as a confirmation in my mortscripts. That's only 50 milliseconds, but it' enough to be clearly felt, and since the motor is powered only for such short time, it causes almost no additional battery drain. I'd really love to see an application creating such confirmation instead of the screen tap sound.
I'd just like it to have customizable vibration time - since the minimal time needed to make vibration even noticeable can probably vary from device to device, and play nice with fTouchFlo - since both capture touchscreen events there are probably possible conflicts.
Good luck with the development. I hope you'll be able to realize this great idea
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lets hope some one makes this. isn't there anyone on these forums with great programing skills?

So the dual is a good choice?

I've been reading thru the posts on the touch dual and see a pretty overwhelming response in the positive range regarding the device. It's been out for a bit so it is getting a track record. I've decided to order the 20 key qwerty. Was getting a little buyers remorse and was wondering if there were any consistant ongoing issues that perhaps I missed. I would appreciate all comments. Thanks. Hope I'm not making a mistake. I currently have the cruise so I'm used to the touch flo. I think I'm going to like the qwerty slider.

hi there cbreze,
After speaking to a few members on here, who have been extremely helpful, i think the phone sounds really good. Read Here:-
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=379178
But after reading about a few issues, i'm beginning to get paranoid if i made the right choice. On this thread, there is a mention of people having problems locking and unlocking the phone when answering calls:-
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=353569
Personally, all i want is a phone which when in closed position is locked and i shouldn't be able to use the Touchscreen or any other button, but when i slide it open, that should be the time when i should be able to answer calls or press buttons to dial out.
Also there is the mention of constantly doing soft resets etc. I hope this isn't a regular issue

newbiefone said:
Personally, all i want is a phone which when in closed position is locked and i shouldn't be able to use the Touchscreen or any other button, but when i slide it open, that should be the time when i should be able to answer calls or press buttons to dial out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when you get your touch, you might be interested in this neat little app.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=359212

thanks ducamie for the link and also for PM'ing me earlier. I'm waiting for delivery today and hope that the phone arrives quickly.
For those who are total noobs, like myself to WM6, what is the best way of learning to install these apps? FYI, i am very computer literate, but dread to mess with mobile phones. I assume WM6 is like Windows XP in file structures, extensions and to install is also a similar method?

if you understand about computers, ppc should be a walk in the park for you!!
it's pretty simple to install anything:
download the .cab file (.cab is for your ppc as .exe is for your pc)
copy the .cab file to your ppc
open the .cab file with your ppc
it installs automatically (you just need to choose the location)
done!
just like a normal computer

I got mine for about 2 weeks now. Overall device is good, only disappointment for me is that XT9 cannot be disabled, it is default input method and you have to manually change all the time. Also when you want to use hardware keyboard for typing sms, it only types numbers When i was ordering this device, i was planning to use hardware keypad for typing stuff, but it is just not usable.
I installed Opera Mobile, similarly, if you want to type URL in address bar using hardware keypad, only numbers can be typed. Not sure if there is a fix somewhere on this forum, i could not find one so far.

creaking
first of all, i love my device!
but quite a long time the cap @ the backside of the device is creaking when i use the touchscreen or the keypad. does anyone have this problem too? what can i do against that? put'em into the freezer

Yep, they all do that (the creaking, that is!). Mine does it as well. It's because there are no strengthening bars in the battery cover, meaning that it flexes when pressed. Nothing to worry about. I actually dropped mine yesterday (I was on a call) and it didn't even drop the connection. The battery cover flew off but, otherwise, the phone was fine. No marks at all. I do have a screen protector on as well, which ultimately saved me a massive headache!

Would a simple bus. card on top of the battery or a section of tape wrapped around the battery help any. I've never had a device yet I couldn`t fix a batt. door creak by using some simple mod. I hate that creaking noise thing!

jvieira said:
if you understand about computers, ppc should be a walk in the park for you!!
it's pretty simple to install anything:
download the .cab file (.cab is for your ppc as .exe is for your pc)
copy the .cab file to your ppc
open the .cab file with your ppc
it installs automatically (you just need to choose the location)
done!
just like a normal computer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well thats very interesting, thanks for that helpful explanation. Without mentioning too much detail (shhh ) Can i get tomtom to fit on a 1gb microsd card supplied by orange or will i need to buy another card? Also how hard is it to install tomtom on the ppc? Do i simply run a .cab file?