Android on Hong Kong One2Free HD2 - HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera

Hello Everyone,
Apologies if this ground has already been well covered, but I thought I'd just share my experience bringing up ANDROID on my HTC HD2 phone as delivered by a carrier here in Hong Kong called One2Free.
Yesterday I was a bit bored so I tried to install ANDROID on the unit after seeing a demonstration of ANDROID booting on an HD2. I found the video on YouTube by accident. It was posted by a guy named Hakeem.
I tried to follow his directions, but nothing worked, so from knowing nothing about the ANDROID ecosystem in particular, I decided to do it by myself from just reading stuff (like on xda-developers). I was successful and it took me about four (4) hours of research and messing around before I could get the unit working.
BUT, the entire experience was *very* typical of my experience with installing Linux in general:
1) There's a lot of incomplete information or just plain wrong information.
2) There's a lot of legacy links and obsolete or incomplete code.
3) There's a lot of project abandonment.
4) There's a LOT of people saying "go for it!" and in doing so they obscure the thread, clogging up the channel with lots and lots of meaningless messages so that forums go to 100+ pages of nothingness.
I thought I'd try my best in under 2000 words to make it crystal clear how to get ANDROID up and running on a One2Free supplied HD2.
There's a LOT of cheap HD2 phones available on the 2nd hand market in Hong Kong now that Windows 7 has been released and the iPhone is such a hit. Just go to Ap Liu Gai and you can get one for about HKD2500. For our USA friends, on eBay HD2 costs (today 2011-01-09) USD650 NEW and about USD335 USED
Just so you know, I bought the HTC HD2 after months of research because of the following reasons:
- I have a long history of being satisfied with HTC devices
- The HD2 has a VERY, VERY large screen
- The HD2 has a VERY HIGH QUALITY display
- The HD2 has a VERY fast processor
- The HD2 has a GENEROUS amount of RAM
- The HD2 has received EXCELLENT reviews on CNET
- The HD2 features Windows Mobile OS functionality
I'm pretty happy with the phone, though it does have its shortcomings (don't they all?). The phone freezes. It can overheat. In short...it's WinDOZE. But it's still a very productive unit for me as I have been using HTC SmartPhones since 2002, since the 02 XDA and I really know the functionality within Windows Mobile Edition / Compact Edition.
Anyway, ANDROID looks like a cute little OS. It's certainly hot. It is also derived from an OS I love and have worked with for a long time (Linux), so why not try to get it running on my phone? Hey, I had some time on my hands. Also, my techie friends (all of whom are carrying iPhones) were looking down at me for not having an iPad or an iPhone (both products I used for about 10 minutes and then just gave to my wife to play with, she's an accountant and delighted with these non PROsumer devices). So, why not load up ANDROID 2.2 on the HD2 and see what people say? It's a little like getting Windows up and running on an INTEL based iMac...it makes the other guy blink and keeps them guessing about how smart you really are...
Having accomplished the task (pretty easily, as all things Linux go...) I thought that anyone else in Hong Kong might appreciate how I did it by just copying the steps I followed. No brains required.
You DO have to pick a distribution, though. I picked SuperRAM Froyo 1.5 because it is still under maintenance and runs in RAM, a concept I like very much. I also went this way because the first ANDROID distribution I ever saw (in that Hakeem YouTube video mentioned above) is no longer under maintenance.
I've documented my complete experience at:
docserve (dot) yougrow (dot) net (slash) HOWTO-HD2-Android (slash) HOWTO-HD2-Android.txt
Enjoy!
Thank you. Comments welcome. If you cannot locate the tools I used to make this happen (like, the links provided in the HOWTO give up a 404) then just drop a note here and I'll make them available, but please do look for them first.
Graham Leach
----

Anything you can do to promote more sales and fans of HD2's is fine by me .... I usually keep 'good' electronics for 3 years, because I grow into them and keep modding them until they can do a lot more at 2 years of age then new stuff can, so as long as the hd2 stays popular I will have more rescources to lengthen it's service life -- keep spreading the word.

Thank you ..
but the link you gave is broken ..

The link is fine!!
Haven't you try the NAND ROM editions!!!
Since the first version of SuperRAM editions i have tried , I would said of course, "It's a very good build". (darkstone) fully respect
but lot of softwares, doesn't run on this build (Personally)!

Related

Why all the hate for Winmo powered HD2

so i spent a long time trying to decide whether to go with an android phone or hd2
i searched high and wide all over the internet. the only android phone for gsm with a comparable screen is the samsung i9000 which looks like it would come out at about 700 bucks. either that or you take the nexus one/desire which is also in that same ballpark. after all that i went ahead and got the hd2, and i am glad i did. any hardware comparable phone to the hd2 (which there currently isnt because with 1gb rom and 576 mb of ram, beats any other phone)(US version)
After a close look at everything and playing with a friends droid incredible while comparing it to my hd2, the only big advantages i could see to get an android phone would either be the open market place, google maps, speech to text.
Resolution 1:
ok so you decide, hey let me dictate this msg. HERE IS AN IDEA, WHY NOT CALL THEM. (you might even get a chance to dictate it to someone listening).
the only place i can find real use for speech to text is while driving, and in that case, you technically shouldnt be using your phone PERIOD at that time.
Resolution 2:
people keep griping (pronounce gryping) about googlemaps, but as great as googlemaps is, what happens when you lose your bars or do not have a data plan? *gulp* you are screwed. do yourself a favor and get a non-internet reliant gps software (like actual gps devices use), and i also feel that bing does a good job of matching googlemaps.
Resolution 3:
THE MARKET PLACE. I do wish we had a market place, a nice central location where you can find everything you need. But i can tell you this, there are only so many apps you need until you get to the point where you are just trying to justify spending $X on a phone. A friend of mine while justifying how great his mytouch (android) phone is shows me all these apps he has. one app is a barcode scanner, and one app is google goggles. with goggles, the use of the barcode scanner is lost on me. (i think HD2 can also do that though). why go through all the trouble of opening your camera, looking for the barcode sending the item over the internet and all that when you could either just search for the barcode numbers (which funny enough is usually under the barcode) or searching for the items.
granted there are some nice apps like the statefarm pocket agent app out there, and most reputable companies(like banks etc) prefer to release apps for the iphone/android (my bank allows nexus one and iphone users take pics of check and automatically deposits the money into your account) but lets face it, most apps that people will need on a daily basis are also on winmo. An app that is used once or twice a month, while nice to have doesnt seem like that much of a big deal. Its kinda like getting a standby physician. Plus after a quick skim through the top apps on the marketplace, you find that 9/10 of all these apps are games (go figure), and even though they might be nice for your when you have to wait in a line or something, wouldnt a much larger screen be nicer to watch part of your fave tv show instead?
the hd2 has quite a few flaws, but the they are being fixed. Even though app development for windows 6.5 might go down when winmo7 comes out. I still like the HD2. I do not even think i would be switching to winmo7 since if i wanted an iphone, i would go get an iphone, i am not on facebook, twitter or any other social networking site.
only real reason i switched from my att tilt (the first one) was because the screen was so small and it had started to fall apart.
winmo by default sucks ass, but has limitless potential, where else would you find sms spammers, or american idol spammers (lol)
I'm not knocking android either, it has its perks and it would be nice to see what android is like on the hd2, but it makes little sense getting a winmo phone when you already knew you wanted an android phone, and then cluttering the boards asking for android. my winmo phone does everything i need it to do, so i am happy with it, i see my stocks, have my navigation from igo, have my alarm clock, IM, and calendar. ITS JUST LIKE BUYING A LAMBORGHINI AND COMPLAINING IT IS NOT A FERRARI.
only real sore point i can see no way around is flash coming to android. would have been nice to have flash but i guess i just have to take what i get.
Guys wasnt the main reason we fell in love with winmo because of the limitless possibilities?
Could not agree more, and don't forget the selection of UI's available and
the ability to configure your phone as you like it to be. Less than a month ago,
after researching Android and with the option to upgrade to the HTC Incredible
on Verizon vs the T-Mobile HD2, choose the HD2 with no regrets.
I agree too
I am really tired of all the people going i ditch my android phone or iphone for this and blah blah blah it windows mobile people what dont you get you can actual do something with this phone i love windows mobile after the years i know i know how could of like windows mobile with this will sense UI did the work to make the HD2 the best phone i had so far. I had a iphone it was okay I spent so much time fixing it to how i like it and boy it was not that easy at times lol but after a while I got the hang and did it but the apps please I stop using it for a while i would play with it for like a week and then i go boring android another story i never had one but i played with it and i was like wtf is with this crap please i don't want a phone that is set to make it easy to use because i was use to setting things to too and i know if i had an android the first thing i would do is flash it just to get to flash it lol but let get to the point if you want a android then get a android stop complaining about the windows mobile. If you want a iphone then go for it but sop you complaining about windows mobile too lol. I love my HD2 because there is a lot of nice roms and many possibility. And I forgot to mention the huge screen lol
The hard thing is trying to make sense of why a winmo phone is not more like iPhone or Android.
Do I buy Microsoft's arguement that they write the OS, but do not control the hardware that a Mobile Operator and a device manufacturer (OEM) put it on, or do I believe that someone is chasing their own tail?
I have the Nexus One, the Cliq and the MyTouch 3g. All are nice phones that I was perfectly happy with. I also owned an earlier version of the iPhone...and yes...my opinions then...and now...it was awesome...even with any faults. Yet, when presented with the HD2, my Nexus One now sits dusty and on my table.
'Good Hardware' is the key here. WinMo on the PURE...sucks. it lasted 48 hrs in my house. The Hardware package around the HD2 makes WinMo work...better. XDA makes WinMo better. So what if they take parts from here...and there....and produce great stuff....shouldn't that be ok.
I think some body in Redmond is watching. Windows Phone 7 has the potential to be GREAT...and I want one. A winmo OS with Zune...and Zune marketplace...on a 1300+ ghz hardware device....makes my toes curl. I saw a couple of models on PDADB.net the other day. I think that Microsoft, controlling more of the hardware...is the right idea. people do NOT realize how much Microsoft Windows Mobile suffers from Mobile Operator spec and boreware ...until they get to XDA and REMOVE that stuff. Right now I have the EnergyRom on my HD2....If I show it to ANYONE....they are surprised but interested. This is the same for any other ROM I may run. EXCEPT...the stock TMO rom...WP7 is supposed to remove that option....
BUT.....but....a winmo based Marketplace...hmmmm....it would be nice. Don't ya think the Apple ads...."We got an app for that"....are cool? With my androids, I could find anything I wanted,....at that moment...for my Nexus One....at the airport....is the flight on time????? Marketplace...tap tap touch...no...flight is delayed by 20 minutes. Try doing that on Windows Marketplace....you can't. Where's the nearest seafood restaurant....on Android...tap tap touch...get directions.....try doing that on Windows Marketplace...you can't. Or, my favorite....touch button..speak...Starbucks near here...get directions. It's not how many apps you can have....its about getting the apps you may want...when you want them....
But Android (or apple) marketplace did not keep me from the HD2. 5 minutes after holding the phone...I knew I made the right choice...XDA proved that anything can be done with the phone. Now, my buddy with the iPhone....says ....Wow...I can't do that with my iPhone. I just tell him...maybe there's a app for that...
After all....Windows 7...was my idea....maybe they'll listen to me about Windows Phone 7 too....
+1 on all of you.
Explain that to most people is really hard. WinMo is Vast, limitless but at the same time also complicated. I can live with that, the OS is so Fun to tweak and tinker. My earlier desicion was HD2 or Milestone thanks god i choose HD2 otherwise i only had free apps to have fun with and then get bores while with HD2 you have tons of Custom ROM just for start.
I think WM7 is too limited and controlled in comparison to WM 6.x and try to be more like "the other -read Android/IPhone" Not sure if i will upgrade but only time will tell.
I dont want to talk about Iphone, it is just boring.
I dont regret buying the Hd2. Windows mobile is nice for customization.
I just get tired of the layer skinning. My biggest problem with windows mobile is how different the text messaging looks when you get away from the sense ui
I had a g1 and the screen is just to small for me. Love android but hate small screens
well most people want to get these phones and they want it to do everything there is in the world to do. well i say that ITS JUST A PHONE!!!!!!!! sure i have a htc hd2 don't get me wrong its amazing on what it does and what it can do but remember this that its a phone. people want phones to do everything like gps, bank stuff, music, youtube, facebook, and other stuff. I don't really care on what the phone can or can't do, its a phone and its screen is amazing for seeing vids and besides i want a phone for my entertainment, text, calls, and well since it has internet of course use it. Either way The htc hd2 is a multitasker if you ask me and it is one of the most impressive phones out there and thats why i LOVE it.
try me.. its the next best device regardless if its wm 6.5
very solid points addressed! I use Garmin mobile XT, with 2011 maps 3D moving maps that were released in late April. the maps and program take 2 gigs on my 16 gb sd card. It rarely uses data other than to locate gas prices and weather. POI and everything else is stored to the phone. It has the speech step by step direction. I find it to be annoying, and set it to silence. The radio is really powerful, the satellite are found in seconds... unlike my Tp2 that takes around 10 minutes locate.
cookie Ht has a huge advantage on Sense... why even give windows credit other than better, stable drivers and 6.5 start menu vs 6.0 list..... Sense 2.5 covers to whole interface of the hd2 and paints a beautiful device. i have greatly enhanced my skins on sence, keyboard and dialer.
people complain cuz its not intuitive first time out of the box like the iphone that has beautiful eyecandy UI and they feel good knowing a child could use it. nor do they want to spend a cent more for programs to do actually what they want. its a shame. i really dont think the camera should matter, since their not meant for profession use. just a quick snap shot of a memory, all these camera phones in the dark are terrible. im happy for once, these are equipped with a 3.5 jack for music. i could ask for more. but we know that some people cant to be pleased nor willing to make it better by talking to the community to give us what would be it better.... their lose... our treasure... worth more than in the weight of gold. hehe
ok i''ve owned the g1 and them mytouch 3g. ive rooted these phones n played with them to their extreme . now i own the hd2. trust me the Android operating system is very very good also windows os, but there is two things that will make the windows os outstanding over any os ...1 i think that wm have the most apps than any other os in Apple n what they should do is have a complete make over of the wm market n have every app there is n categorize them according to what os version you have....2 finishing touch to this is creating a new os system which its UI is modern n very attractive because to be honest it feels like im running windows 5 on laptop built in 2010...im not fund of Wphone 7 becauseuUI to me isnt that customizable but one thing i do love about it is the gaming. if this is implemented onnn the hd2 you will have close to perfect mobile os ever
I still have a lot to learn about operating my hd2 – but coming from a Palm (680 and Centro) I really am happy with this phone. I wanted to stop carrying around my media player (Archos 604), my thumb-drive, a small fm radio and wanted to have a gps, real internet access , and a phone that I could listen to books on through my Bluetooth while in boring meetings. I feel I have it all in the hd2.
I picked up one of the many iphone books the other day and went through it to see what I would use on the ipone and couldn’t find any, that I would want to do, that I don’t have on the HD2. I’m not knocking the ipone, everyone I know who has one loves it – I’m just not that into texting, games, fart apps, facebbok, twitter ,or any other social media.
It is aggravating though, to walk into Best Buy and see 50 docking stations, 100 cases/covers, etc. and nothing for the HD2.
if you really wanna see how android is gonna fare on the hd2, just check out your local sprint store and check out the htc sprint evo 4g.
that being said, i own both an hd2 and two android handsets that are rooted.
what i like most about win 6.5 is the ability to customize it as much as i can a rooted android phone i.e. overclock the cpu (i just found an app for it), custom theme, save apps to sd card, play flash videos etc etc.
however, i do feel that it is a bit outdated and is more complicated to use. takes a bit of a learning curve v. android os, which is more simple to use. i see tons of potential for windows mobile 6.5 but it's a damn shame that microsoft is moving on to a more closed platform with windows mobile 7.
long term, i will probably head back to android in that regard due to updates and that it just keeps getting better and better (upcoming froyo update and then the gingerbread update which will allow for the saving of apps to sd card, etc)
engineer14 said:
so i spent a long time trying to decide whether to go with an android phone or hd2
i searched high and wide all over the internet. the only android phone for gsm with a comparable screen is the samsung i9000 which looks like it would come out at about 700 bucks. either that or you take the nexus one/desire which is also in that same ballpark. after all that i went ahead and got the hd2, and i am glad i did. any hardware comparable phone to the hd2 (which there currently isnt because with 1gb rom and 576 mb of ram, beats any other phone)(US version)
After a close look at everything and playing with a friends droid incredible while comparing it to my hd2, the only big advantages i could see to get an android phone would either be the open market place, google maps, speech to text.
Resolution 1:
ok so you decide, hey let me dictate this msg. HERE IS AN IDEA, WHY NOT CALL THEM. (you might even get a chance to dictate it to someone listening).
the only place i can find real use for speech to text is while driving, and in that case, you technically shouldnt be using your phone PERIOD at that time.
Resolution 2:
people keep griping (pronounce gryping) about googlemaps, but as great as googlemaps is, what happens when you lose your bars or do not have a data plan? *gulp* you are screwed. do yourself a favor and get a non-internet reliant gps software (like actual gps devices use), and i also feel that bing does a good job of matching googlemaps.
Resolution 3:
THE MARKET PLACE. I do wish we had a market place, a nice central location where you can find everything you need. But i can tell you this, there are only so many apps you need until you get to the point where you are just trying to justify spending $X on a phone. A friend of mine while justifying how great his mytouch (android) phone is shows me all these apps he has. one app is a barcode scanner, and one app is google goggles. with goggles, the use of the barcode scanner is lost on me. (i think HD2 can also do that though). why go through all the trouble of opening your camera, looking for the barcode sending the item over the internet and all that when you could either just search for the barcode numbers (which funny enough is usually under the barcode) or searching for the items.
granted there are some nice apps like the statefarm pocket agent app out there, and most reputable companies(like banks etc) prefer to release apps for the iphone/android (my bank allows nexus one and iphone users take pics of check and automatically deposits the money into your account) but lets face it, most apps that people will need on a daily basis are also on winmo. An app that is used once or twice a month, while nice to have doesnt seem like that much of a big deal. Its kinda like getting a standby physician. Plus after a quick skim through the top apps on the marketplace, you find that 9/10 of all these apps are games (go figure), and even though they might be nice for your when you have to wait in a line or something, wouldnt a much larger screen be nicer to watch part of your fave tv show instead?
the hd2 has quite a few flaws, but the they are being fixed. Even though app development for windows 6.5 might go down when winmo7 comes out. I still like the HD2. I do not even think i would be switching to winmo7 since if i wanted an iphone, i would go get an iphone, i am not on facebook, twitter or any other social networking site.
only real reason i switched from my att tilt (the first one) was because the screen was so small and it had started to fall apart.
winmo by default sucks ass, but has limitless potential, where else would you find sms spammers, or american idol spammers (lol)
I'm not knocking android either, it has its perks and it would be nice to see what android is like on the hd2, but it makes little sense getting a winmo phone when you already knew you wanted an android phone, and then cluttering the boards asking for android. my winmo phone does everything i need it to do, so i am happy with it, i see my stocks, have my navigation from igo, have my alarm clock, IM, and calendar. ITS JUST LIKE BUYING A LAMBORGHINI AND COMPLAINING IT IS NOT A FERRARI.
only real sore point i can see no way around is flash coming to android. would have been nice to have flash but i guess i just have to take what i get.
Guys wasnt the main reason we fell in love with winmo because of the limitless possibilities?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Each to its own. Now we have HD2, iPod Touch, iPhone 3GS, and iPad. We also got an Android phone in the family. Instead of pitching them against one another, we make them complement and work together. For example, we have the only mobile data plan we need on my iPhone - beside all the goodies it can offer, we use it as a wifi router for all our mobile devices.
The main reasons I bought HD2 were its beautiful/huge screen, and the xda-developers forum. I don't intend to upgrade to WM7 even if it was available.
The same kind of people that complain about WinMo and think their iphone is so much better are the kind of closed minded people that cant think for themselves, try something new, and actually embrace and learn it.
The iphone/ipad are created for one thing mass consumer media consumption, and apple getting a cut of every itunes/app store purchase, with the iphone having a phone built in. It's definitely a very smart business for apple, but not one that I want to be part of, since im quite capable of figuring out how to get apps, and media on my WinMo device without the need of itunes or an app store
Im sure like many others here happy with their WinMo Phones, you have probably been using WinMo phones for a long time already, and some like myself have been using WinMo before it was ever on phones and just a PDA. I still have my 1st WinMo PDA, a toshiba e750, amazing for how old it is, the processor in it is almost as fast as most of last years WinMo phones. I used to BT tether the PDA to my cell phone to be able to do email and web browsing, then finally got a T-Mobile MDA shortly after it came out to merge the 2 devices into one, though at a performance hit, because of the lower processor speed.
These phones are quite literally like having a desktop PC in your pocket, with android also being similar experience from what i've read, though i've not actually owned an android device to play with
I've been fascinated by "palmtop" portable computing for quite awhile, with my 1st such device being an HP 200LX palmtop running DOS 5. I still have that palmtop sitting on my desk and it works still too! I always wanted to get one of the palmtop format windows mobile devices (windows ce), but couldn't justify the expense at the time having just graduated from HS and in college. I also remember the laptop format WinMo devices.
I also find it fascinating to find windows mobile/ce in devices that people would have never expected it in, nor complain about because they cant see the underlying OS. an example is the car stereo I have, a Roadmaster VR3 VRVD640G. There are hacks for it that somewhat let you get into the underlying OS.
I recently recieved my Hd2 and I love it. It is my first WinMo powered device. I owned a G1 (Dream) and while I really liked it and Android, I think that WinMo 6.5 is a much more customizeable and powerful OS. The level of complexity is alot higher, however. That is what I think turns people off of WinMo. I am enjoying the undertaking of learning this new (to me) OS.
Edit: I do think that in time, as it matures and with devices such as the N1 and the Desire, Android will be a quite powerful OS.
you know im so happy to see that their are others out there that see past winmo on the HD2 and are taking more consideration for the hardware specs...ive had the gsm htc hero,the nexus one,desire,Nokia n900 etc. and honestly, i was completely let down by all of those devices,but,thats just been my experience with them. even though the winmo isnt as snappy as android or the iphone..its still is kick ass phone...not downplay winmos but they are working on the kernals for linux and WM7 and considering most devices,we have one the better devices to date and iam very content with wm6.5 and 6.5.5
Well symbian and windows mobile had been the most hated OS in the US and maybe windows mobile been hated all over the world. I think its a nice OS but I think windows slept on the development, I think it became so critical how much they slept on the OS that alot of people here knows the in and out of the OS with out been hired or took any training about the OS which to me that amazing and probably never seen in any other OS in the world. not to mention HTC took sense and did their part as well but you never see windows team developing anything. I almost didnt buy the HD2 for the simple fact microsoft decided to develop KIN and windows 7 series instead of giving us a better support.
HEY I DISAGREE......... but i must say thank you for the info u gave me more info then any carrier could give the hd2 is a bigger & faster device but the differences u pulled the hd2 also hav hd2 has googlemaps it also has text to speech wat people people fail to see and realize is that the andoid market allows u to demo the product winmo doesnt which is suck and thats why u hav guys like me that searches the web for the product for free its out here it just cost but most of the apps that the andoid market hav winmo also has its just a matter of searching for it. my job on here is test multiple software to see if it can run and work together without issuse and or bugs and to run on the hd2 without error its crazy i go to a site find software and its free then find it at another site that charges for it .... now i dont think i can list the sites because of forum rules and regs but there out there waitin on u but u hav googlemaps with buzz also microsoft myphone and microsoft voice command
ryan562 said:
if you really wanna see how android is gonna fare on the hd2, just check out your local sprint store and check out the htc sprint evo 4g.
that being said, i own both an hd2 and two android handsets that are rooted.
what i like most about win 6.5 is the ability to customize it as much as i can a rooted android phone i.e. overclock the cpu (i just found an app for it), custom theme, save apps to sd card, play flash videos etc etc.
however, i do feel that it is a bit outdated and is more complicated to use. takes a bit of a learning curve v. android os, which is more simple to use. i see tons of potential for windows mobile 6.5 but it's a damn shame that microsoft is moving on to a more closed platform with windows mobile 7.
long term, i will probably head back to android in that regard due to updates and that it just keeps getting better and better (upcoming froyo update and then the gingerbread update which will allow for the saving of apps to sd card, etc)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wait it out and u will be able to run both the drod and winmo on the hd2 without problems
ryan562 said:
however, i do feel that it is a bit outdated and is more complicated to use. takes a bit of a learning curve v. android os, which is more simple to use. i see tons of potential for windows mobile 6.5 but it's a damn shame that microsoft is moving on to a more closed platform with windows mobile 7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally wonder if WinMo is as dead, atleast from a MS prospective as people are saying. Yes WinMo is used in many consumer phones which is what I see WinPhone7 replacing, but WinMo is used in MANY other places still.
Like my example of my car stereo in the post lastnight.
Symbol uses it in the "LRT" devices that many stores use for stock tracking. You see target employees carrying them all the time. hell APPLE stores used them with WinMo until they managed to hack a card reader onto their iphone.
The Symbol price check scanners you find at many retail stores are WinMo based. I've seen them crashed at walmart with the floating WinMo keyboard on top of their price check app.
I've seen symbol Pin entry/signature capture/card swipe terminals at stores like JC penny and the now defunct circuit city that i highly suspected to be running windows mobile due to the sound tones played while using the touch screen, they were the default for WinMo.
I highly suspect that Symbol is a huge WinMo customer of MS.
I've also recently been to the Seminole hard rock casino here in Tampa and noticed on some slot machines that the little screens just shows small ads had WinMo intenet explorer windows that had apparently got stuck while loading the next ad and you saw the default IE could not load page screen. I have no idea if the entire slot machine is WinMo based or just certain functions like that screen.
Yes i understand from a consumer prospective its pretty much dead because there will be no more releases for phones and app development is likely to die off as time goes on.
Also in alot of these cases it is more technically Windows CE, which windows mobile is a subset of, but its quite literally all the same code base, just a matter of what modules the OEM loads in their distribution
God knows how many other places it's running, you never know till you see one crashed or notice a few telltale signs. Some ATMs used to be Win98 based. Yes I quite literally saw an old style Win98 BSOD on one of my credit unions's ATM's years back. it was a Diebold machine. Would not surprise me if alot of them are WinMo or embedded XP now.

Is a valuable HD2 Windows Mobile 6.5.3 successor coming?

I bought a lot of great apps in the years when Windows Mobile (CE, Pocket PC, etc) was the best mobile platform (1998-2003). I am still using many of them, but now my very good HP iPaq h2215 of Oct 2003 is getting old: sure it still works well, but it has no WiFi, no GPS (the rest of its shortcomings, like no photo, are unimportant IMO, I am already carrying good old light inexpensive efficient Sagem MyX6-2 2005 photophone and Canon IXUS95 2009 camera).
I first considered switching to Android, which I soon dropped; those great Windows Mobile apps have no equivalent in any other mobile platform, neither Android nor iPhone nor any other one. Example: Wikipedia offline with all the images (in the right places in each page) i.e. 4GB of data in my pocket with instant response, much more portable (and faster!) than browsing Wikipedia in Windows XP on the desktop; syncing Outlook Contacts and Excel sheets; a number of powerful and convenient calculators (e.g. RDcalc); and many news readers (but most of those have disappeared, including the best one, AvantGo).
After hesitating I skipped the HD2, hoping a newer phone would come, from HTC or from others, with the fixes and updates that should IMO: better dimensions (120mm/11mm make it too breakable, 100/15 or at least 100/13 would be sturdier), new 2-core 1.2 or 1.5GHz CPU+GPU (that's all, HD2 being already an excellent device).
Now I just discovered that the HD2 has suddenly disappeared from all regular offers in France and probably elsewhere; only a very few used ones are now offered. Is this a sign that HTC (or someone else) is coming with a new Windows Mobile 6.5.3 phone? Thanks to anyone who would know better (sorry if my post is inappropriate in contents or place: Google "HD2 successor site:xda-developers.com" or Google "New Windows Mobile 6.5.3 phone? site:xda-developers.com" or similar searches found no relevant response).
Versailles, Sat 08 Jan 2011 15:15:00 +0100
actually windows mobile is kind of death.
since wp7s is out you have to do it with the the current offer.
so the hd2 is the best.
but if it's too big you can take a look at the tg01
I doubt we will see anything better than the hd2. And also wanted to comment... my hd2 feels a lot sturdier than my ipaq 2215 did. It's very well built. If you're worried, you can get an otterbox defender case for it like I have. Most protective case available, and looks great too.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
I just ordered an used HD2 for 231 EUR - Thx a lot!
Thank you both. Your precise replies removed my doubts. I just ordered an used HD2 (here in France, probably FR version) for 225 EUR (231 EUR with shipping).
Versailles, Sat 08 Jan 2011 19:24:40 +0100
you will not regret your purchase.
you also have a go with Android, just to feel how it is like
as far as HD2 is concerned you can still get it unlocked...a number of websites sell it and have international shipping...thats how I got my previous LgKs20 since its a European device and wasnt available in the US.
Also with the option of running Android, Meego and WP7(hopefully) it surely is the best phone according to me in the market.
regarding Windows Mobile 6.5.3: True that MS has stopped development from their side but here on xda we have number of Rom chefs doing a better job than MS which means lots of custom Roms and apps
regarding WP7: that's the next big thing. true that its in the development stage but give it some time and see how it booms and gets hold of the market. Remem iOs was only able to get strong after first 6months of release and considering the fact that WP7 platform already has well over 5000apps in the marketplace...things surely are looking great for MS.

Android Development – how to start? Start Here now - Well not right here

I'm not sure this is the place for my post, please let me know and i'll move it.
Please feel free to share your thoughts (Good Bad or Evil will work)
Everything will be posted on my site www.inrim.net and www.yeshaib.com
So i’m going to share the next two three months of my journey….
Currently I work as a Project Manager for a software company and from time to time I do some development for my customers (Automation Scripts, Visual Basic and C#) but I really like it for fun…
Now what would be more fun than making a few $$$ (or as some would say “Coin” here in our southern area)
So? what am I talking about and what am I going to share and show? and why did I pick android and not iOS or WP7 or BlackBerry (note I didn’t note WebOS well maybe I did… you got me now.)
I’m going to start with Why Android:
1. Y’all have a computer so the cost to start developing is cheap (don’t have to buy a mac or anything of sort)
2. Android based phones are cheap if you want a REAL phone to play around with and I already have three (Samsung Captivate, HTC Aria and a Dell Streak on the way)
3. Android Market only costs $25
4. I like Android (although I was an iPhone user and still have an iPad…. simply get more done with an android phone)
So as i’ve covered the why android let’s move on to what i’m going to share:
1. I’m going to share most of my ideas but will start with two small App/Util (you will know soon)
2. I will share all the revenue coming from the applications and the website (AdSense etc), not trying rub it in if I do end up making some coin just trying to give you and idea of your ROI (as you time is money)
3. How I started and tips and tricks along the way (and BTW i’m really starting now I’ve never done any Java…)
4. Guides for anything I do and some source code that will turn into open source…..
And now the why am I doing this?
1. I don’t know
2. Sounds like fun
3. Hope to get some comments out of people to hear what they think of my journey (not that nasty Dodge… I drive a Merc and not that merc )
4. Still thinking about it
How’s this going to work?
I opened a new Site www.inrim.net and I will have everything Android over there (so we have a clean start…..)
Every week I will post a few posts (now I sound like…. just repeating my self) about guides where to start costs etc.
It’s going to be fun so join me there
So going to be posted in Hebrew at PDAPoint.net and my personal blog will have less information but it all started here

The Future Of Windows Mobile

A lot of people have been asking me this very difficult question: What is the future of Windows Mobile? Do you think it will die in a few years(about 2)? And other questions that are about the death of Windows Mobile. On this post I will say about my thoughts of the future of Windows Mobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I've made this article to say every thing I think about a very polemic topic: The death of Windows Mobile... For sure it won't die in 2 years, it will take a lot more...
The article is on my blog, feel free to share it every where you want, but remember to give the credits
http://developmentcloud.blogspot.com/2011/02/future-of-windows-mobile.html
Leave a comment about the topic and my article. Happy reading
PS: I've made this article at midnight, so it may contain some errors and crazy stuff
Windows Mobile without Sense for sure is pretty crappy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to write this, but your statement is truly ridiculous, skip to very end of my post before you read rest, to understand why i said that.
As a matter of fact, death of wm started when HTC destroyed whole idea of PDA with its feeble, slow, but VERY popular devices(well..PDA's were made for work, HTC changed PDAs into just phones - popularity(money) rose, niche changed and this tendancy progresses now in absurdal way resulting with WP).
They just started to load their bloatware(manila,sense), in EXCHANGE for specs(and dpad/buttons), specifically. I know LOTS of people, that left WM platform just because of that, and even HD2 wasn't able to change that(FAR too late, too ridiculous, too buttonless, to expensive, etc, etc).
XDAdev forums took some part in whole process, imho(you NEED manila, you NEED sense - what a bull****).
HTC seem to be VERY happy after gigantic success of manila's, sense's resulting in destroying of many of old wm software developers(yes, by marketplace,my friend).
Finally, androidz and ridiculous iphone took rest.
95% of cooks i know and i respect would NEVER add manila, nor sense to their roms, as a matter of fact, actually most of them left wm platform already(well, rest bought...hd2, rich happy people mhmm.).
I will stay with my device(PDA with phone module, not HTC), as there is NO software i am using made for android, nor wp(sorry to say, old wm software is totally different league from actual promoted software, all about that).
So all i can say, have fun with your sense, twitter and facebook, but remember, there was something more few years ago, when future looked bright and good.
sorry for engrish, topic not suscribed(i have no nerves for that, you know, i am able to make skin for hs++ with functionality of whole sense, but it takes 143 kb, not 65MB, this is what made me posting my thoughts, i doubt you can understand me).
As I've said, that's my opinion and I respect your point of view
I liked your article very much. i tried lot of OS on my HD2 and the worst one was WP7. it is a ugly clone of iPhone OS. Windows mobile gives you full control of the device and you can customize it as much as you can...
I hope Microsoft will continue development on WM.
adempozhari said:
I liked your article very much. i tried lot of OS on my HD2 and the worst one was WP7. it is a ugly clone of iPhone OS. Windows mobile gives you full control of the device and you can customize it as much as you can...
I hope Microsoft will continue development on WM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes.. hope microsoft still continuing it...
Nice article, and it was interesting to hear from someone who has tried out the majority of OS's out there. I got my first WinMo device back in 2005, though it still had WM2003 running on it. Since then, I have been hooked on WinMo. Like you, I also have an iPod Touch and the OS is smooth, but the customisation abilities are next to none (even if its jailbroken). Anyway, in general, I agree with most of what you say.
However, where I differ in opinion, is that I think WinMo is going to disappear sooner than you predict. WinMo hasn't had an update since 6.5 (was 6.5.x ever on a commercially available device?). And even HTC haven't offered an update on Sense since the HD2 came out. Thank goodness for XDA-Devs and Cookies Home Tab! I am sure that through this community, WinMo will live on for as long as there are working devices out there (I'm in no rush to swap my HD2 for anything else). But even now, you can see that Android and WP7 are becoming more and more popular within this community. And outside, in public, if you pull out a smartphone (regardless of model, or OS) someone will ask "Oh is that an iPhone?"
The beauty of the HD2 (I'm on my second HD2 as the first one was stolen) is that it will run many different OS's. So far, I have run several versions of Android, WP7 and Ubuntu. But I always come back to WinMo as it still offers the best for customisation and features. The iPhone for me is only a toy/fashion device that is over hyped and seriously over-advertised (which is why it sells so well- that and Apples nice design).I liked WP7, which I ran for nearly a week. Currently in it's first version it is a bit lacking but it is FAST! And when I do eventually get to the point of having to give up my HD2, I am hoping that Nokia will have a seriously good WP7 device on offer.
I am sure that XDA-Devs will continue to breath life into WinMo and drive it on to places Microsoft never thought to take it. But sad to say, I think WinMo has been abandoned by MS, forever. When did you last see a new device come out with WinMo on board? Even HTC seems to have totally hopped ship to Android and WP7. And it's getting harder to find new apps for WinMo (where as, iOS and Android have zillions of apps to offer - most of them are junk, but there are some gems among them).
Sorry to ramble on, but that was/is my opinion. Bleak, but with very fond memories of what is still in my mind, the best OS.
Copied from a post I made in here but worth an inclusion here.
**********************************************
When you visit the Expansys website here in the UK and filter available phones using Windows Mobile, it only lists six models, the same applies to Phone 7.
If you select available phones by Android, you get nearly fifty, although some of these are duplicated as different bundles, +SD card, cradle etc. The writing is clearly on the wall.
Interestingly, one of the Windows Mobile phones is an Airo Wireless. At over £500, it is a rather expensive item, but it is a waterproof, rubber armoured device that would probably survive being fired out of a cannon.
Post #38 by Tpimp420 in the thread link above, mentions Microsoft have rebranded WinMo as Microsoft Embedded Handheld, in the much larger Windows Embedded arena, and are targeting these types of devices for use in enterprise business applications/solutions.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembe.../overview.mspx
Microsoft has wised up to the fact that there are countless thousands of these things already in use, in warehouses and factories as barcode readers and pick-list terminals, in airlines (as Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals), data capture devices as meter readers, or in the field as customer survey recording devices, etc... etc..... The list goes on and on. These devices may occupy a niche market, but it's still quite a big one, which needs and will continue to need supporting. In the field these devices get a lot of use/abuse, and when they need replacing, with what do you replace them? An I-Phone or Android device? They wouldn't last a week!
WinMo as we know it, might not evolve much further, but Windows CE, and Embedded versions of XP and Windows 7 live on, for new generations of tablet devices. Microsoft has announced that it wants a lot more Windows stuff to run on ARM devices.
Meanwhile, there are still millions of WinMo devices out there, and sites like this, that try to keep them running.

maybe this could help HTC revive themselves

so we all know HTC is in trouble. The cellphone market is constantly moving forward and looking to the future for their next big thing. I, however, suggest that htc should take a page out of their old book and come out with a next-gen hd2. When I think about freedom in a handset, I think about this phone first and THEN android's early days. We live in a time where mainstream phone manufacturers give us a product and thats that whether we like it or not. my last 4 android phones weren't able to be rooted and so I gave up altogether. I'm currently an iphone user. Not because I think it's better but because I just gave up. I am not happy with todays offerings. I feel like phones should be more advanced now. I mean yeah there are very nice phones today with tiny bezels and crazy specs but I'm speaking more from a OS perspective. Yes pixels are nice, yes samsung has amazing phones but at the end of the day they're only still running android. Android has evolved but, in my eyes, just barely. It's still the same at its core. Back on topic, I think it would be in everybody's best interest if htc were to look back to this phone for the future. This time next year will mark the 10th anniversary of the HD2 and they're in a very troubled state right now so why not? HD3, the all new HTC HD, whatever they may call it is irrelevant as long as they just do it. The smartphone market is stagnant right now, there's countless evidence to support this claim. Manufacturers should start focusing more on operating systems than bezels. It is clearly inevitable that there will eventually be new contestants in the duopoly we have right now.
I'm not sure how to approach this but let's just put it like this. If i had it my way; it's November 2019 and HTC releases the hd3, theres a whole back to the future campaign. they trademark the phrase "the future is in your hands." it's on billboards and ads with the phone sitting comfortably in a pair of palms. there's black hands, white hands, brown hands, robot hands to show that this is the phone for everybody. it runs android by default but it is meant to run other operating systems. HTC has invested money into smaller os manufacturers and home-based devs to develop/port their existing OS. they run competitions and such for people to show off their OS offerings. Not for them to purchase and license but to show that the whole movement is about the people and their freedom phone. the device is a tinkerers dream. The app stores are limited but that isn't the point. We're approaching a time where AI is slowly eliminating the need for 6 billion apps. XDA is the go-to spot again. We need a more capable mobile OS and why shouldn't HTC be one of the first to push that with their hardware. I know microsoft will be putting out the surface phone soon and I'd be willing to bet it will run full windows 10. Why not have a legitimate early competitor to push the agenda? If I want to run ubuntu desktop or kali linux on my phone fluidly why can't I? This may very well be a niche product but it will be huge for developers and will most definitely be a big conversation. That alone would gain some traction. hardware revisions thereafter could include multiple usb-c connectors, maybe an x86 architecture, maybe modularity, maybe this maybe that. I just dream of a pocketable device that would truly feel free of restraints and I believe HTC is the one for the job. Manufacturers are always giving us what THEY think we need instead of actually leaving it up to us. Ask any savvy person what the most legendary smartphone was and they'll say the HD2, ask them why and I guarantee every answer is the same. This is something I am passionate about and I haven't slept yet and I know the format is all messed up but I just wanted to put the idea in peoples heads.
I second this motion. The HTC HD2 Leo I own is a beast. I will admit that it was frustrating at first. I must have soft bricked it half a dozen times messing with settings and software I had no business touching as I didn't have a clue what I was doing. Then I found some good tutorials and finally, the promised land. XDA DEVELOPERS FORUM.
I found that the HD2 was an incredibly versatile and robust piece of tech. I did soft brick it again a time or two, but always I was able to rejuvenate it. The downfall, I believe was Microsoft ending the 6.5 os right after release. That coupled with the power house of android and the backing and resources it had soon overshadowed the HD2. But quite a few kept a place in there heart for it. The capability of the device and the developers to modify and utilize the platform to do extraordinary things has, in my opinion, never been matched. HTC needed a flagship. They were in the pack, but had a desire and opportunity to pull to the forefront. With the HD2 they did surge ahead. They didn't fail us, the market and consumer failed them. Too many got overly frustrated as they failed to understand the accessibility and basic root to pathway to app to accessories. The various models also caused consumers, who were hearing of this wonder of Google and Android, some with the apple iPhone in hand and its "friendly yet restrictive" os, and they rage quit on the HTC.
After reading the above post, I have thought long and hard on what was, what is, and what could be for HD devices. I have several interesting observations.
1. The versatility of the HD2 opened it up to power-users, techs, devs and wide eyed dreamy technophiles like myself. The ability of the HD2 to use Java, WinMo, PPC software, Android and linux gave so many a highly adaptable device for personal preference, personalization and experimentation.
2. The HD2 could act as a PDA, Phone, PC, Diagnostic tool, Microsoft Office companion and controller... The list goes on. Yes you can do all those things with an android or apple device now, but the ability to adjust the hardware settings, application features, information export and format has been greatly handicapped by a gap between developer abilities an end users abilities. Rooting helps with this, but rooting itself is a tricky and iffy prospect. I have noticed that certain areas of focus and purpose for applications have software that does not cover everything desired, or is entirely too broad and basic to be fully accurate. I have found myself and others needing 2 or three applications to accomplish with accuracy what could be done with one openly versatile and layered 'package'.
3. The HTC HD2 is still capable of competing with most of the low to mid level devices on the market today. I can hear some of you rolling your eyes, but I stick by that statement. Even with some outdated components and slower buss and cache speeds, it can hold its own. I attribute that to the versatility.
4. The vision of the HTC HD3 MODULAR COMPONENT ENGINE. Yup. I may be insane after all. Yet my madness has reason, I am just not linguistically skilled enough in Techaneeze to put it to words. Basically, the device by itself is a fully functioning phone with the latest capabilities and trends. The average user will be able to use it straight out the box, though with multiple new options such as dual OS preinstalled, dual SD card slots, Mega More than anyone needs camera resolutions, speakers that actually work loud and clear, maybe predocked gizmos, chochkies and dodads like Bluetooth earpiece(beats me on the design so far), NFC tags or keyring fobs(whatever those are called), a hidden micro sim/sd card compartment, an actual headphone jack, plasma lighter/taser, multi use survival card, toothpick, tweezers, det-cord crimper. OK OK i am being silly, but its late and I am hungry.
The added wow factor is that the HD3 is a driver/interface for a modular expansion platform that can be customized for various trades. IT tools like frequency counter, component tester, etc.; scientific lab tools and sensors; in the field career specific tools for geologist, meteorologist, anthropologists, etc.
So far, i just have envisioned a framework buss with plug in ports for specific electronics and sensors, etc.
I will try to expand on this idea, but I am now at the point that I believe I need to poll the public. I will attempt to create an effective poll(s) at a later time when I have all cylinders firing.
Good night, and good luck!
I just stumbled on to this forum browsing xda in the new year..and as each year passes i feel sad that these HD2 forums get more and more silent ( I bot the HD2 in 2009, the year of its launch) ...strange this phone got so many people to love their device like no other, I guess people remember the joy they felt when they used it and the fact that it was probably the most modded phone on the planet....fact that it ran android marshmallow not too far back is testament to the loyalty of developers and users of this phone who never gave up on it, kept it alive and relevant .... I guess we all miss the extreme flexibility of our beloved device today, of course also miss the huge flutter of activity on the xda forums for this phone, the forums were always buzzing with something new ( ROM, app ) the phone could run or some feature that was finally made to work...so so great to see the above 2 posts in 2018, good to see activity and that people still remember this great device and are still hoping it will be reborn in some form in the future, cheers to that!!!!
Same sentiments here. I bought the hd2 on release in 2009 and it was a lovely device. I remember installing the latest Android ROMs and kernels on it, was so fun. We're at a point if perfection though, most modern devices run at well you hardly need to tinker with them anymore. My Galaxy note 9 and Huawei mate 20 pro are proof to that, these 2 phones are Android in it's perfection but the hd2 will always have a place in our hearts!
I am still amazed to see what the HD2 achieved.. I also bought it in 2009.. had loads of fun flashing it (or may i say them, i ended up having 4 of them at the same time ) whith android and windows.. I still have 2 or 3 of them laying around somewhere.. was an incredible device that gave loads of fun

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