Got a New Phone

I was getting close to my contract ending with tmo and decided to get a new phone.  I was looking at the android phones and the windows mobile phones and one thing that I wanted to get was the hot spot capabilities of the phones.  So I went with the HTC HD2, a Windows Mobile 6.5 OS.  I have to tell you, the 4.3" screen is Beautiful!  The colors, the look, the feel, it just fits wonderfully in my hand.  My wallet on the other hand refused to give up the funds for it, but I convinced it to allow me to buy this phone.  Not to worry, I came out unscathed.

Since I have owned the phone, I have been looking at the android phones and, well, I've been missing it.  Windows Mobile does not feel good any more, it seems to be lacking in so many areas:

• The Windows Mobile Market is severely limited.  Not much to choose from.  Sure there are alternative websites to download from, but those apps were made for older model phones on winmo and the screen sizes were small.  Now that I have owned the G1 and used the market on it, they have lots and lots of apps. Try before you buy, love that concept!
• The Sense UI feels good, but not much in the way of configuration.  Sure you can disable some of the screens, but what about allowing a more custom interface.  Allow the user to pick and choose what is on the screens.  Instead you have preconfigured screens. I know, the Sense UI is not Windows Mobile, but HTC did try to make it look good and they did, it's just lacking features. Important ones.
• Outlook Email - You have got to be kidding! They still have you tap twice to view pictures in your emails, then you have to tap again to be able to scroll right to left.  It's annoying!
• Outlook Calendar - Another let down.  You cannot view multiple calendars.  In this day and age, multiple calendars are the norm and ms has not caught on.  Almost everyone utilizes multi-calendars.

So, here is what I did.  I researched and came across xda developers.  Look them up, they have done wonders to the windows mobile phones.  I am now running Android 2.2 on my HD2.  I installed it on Oct 2, mind you, it is running off the micro sdhc card, good thing I got an 8gig Class 6 card.  This little card runs fast, super fast.  The Android OS is beautiful and fast.  On this 4.3" screen it has made my phone even more desirable.  Everything on this phone works: Wifi, Bluetooth Stereo, Bluetooth Headset, Bluetooth Data, Wifi HotSpot, FM Radio, GPS, Market, Voice Input.

There you have it.  The HD2 is a super nice phone, now that I have Android 2.2 running on it.

-L-

Looking into the Guts of the "X10"

I've had two windows mobile devices before this "X10".  The first was the Cassiopea B300, it was a PDA that ran windows ce 3.  It was a great little device. I had found a website that had some programmers that were fiddling with the OS and constantly upgrading the OS with new features and making it more speedy.  The B300 was stolen from me several years ago, but later I got an HTC phone called the Touch Flo.  It had windows mobile 6 pro as the base os.  HTC had created teh Touch Flo app.  These two devices had allowed me to become familiar with this os. Unfortunately, I am not a programmer.  My abilities in reworking the registry are limited. With the B300, there was a forum that had some guys creating updates to the gui, creating new roms of the os and with the help of the software to update this os, it made things easier to upgrade than not having the sw to begin with.  They were improving the device to where you could add icons and they were moveable on the home screen,  The original GUI on the B300 was very simple, no really nice to view.  I paid $100 for this device at the time.  It was a steal!  The rest of the country noticed this too and well, it was a tinkerer joy.  Having these two devices, I have accumulated some software that I found useful on these devices, so now I am trying to find them again  and see if i can implement them onto the os on the "X10"..  So far, only one has worked, it is the app called Total Commander.  It actually has the registry editor built in and it works great.  I have found some information on the device that I would not be able to do without it.  I will post some findings on the use of this software.

There was a post at the store that I bought this device at, someone was asking if it were possible to change the background image on the device from the static images that it comes with. It does not, however, give you the ability to change them out.  You are stuck with using them.  This did not go well for me.  Since I am a photographer and I like to share and show my images, I figured I would snoop around the devices registry and see what I can find.  Using the explorer app, you will find that there is a 'ResidentFlash2' that is on this device, (Warning: Tread Carefully in this folder!)  If you do not know much about file systems, I suggest not even going into this flash drive.  This flash drive, I believe, holds the systems graphical user interface, Silverlight configration files, etc.  In this location, you will see a folder "FlashUI" and inside this folder there is another titled "img", if you go into this folder you will see the files b1.jpg, b2.jpg, etc till you get to b6.jpg.  Inside this folder that is another titled "small", this is where you will find the Thumbnails of the dropdown on the main screen that you select the background you want to use.  I have already changed mine.  See...

I just did one.  But before I did this, I backed up that folder.  One thing I do need to mention is that when you do a reset it will reset the images to default.  Also, that is a mini 5pin male usb to regular 5pin usb female, I had to try it, to see what else I could do with it.  One thing I do want to do is open this sucker up and see if I can mod a blue tooth and larger drive than the 2 gig.  If someone else does this, I would like to know what you did.

This is it for now.  I hope some of you will find this informative.  I have to live with this device and I figured I would start on something.

Later,
Carlos
-L-

New X10, Supposedly

Well, I wanted to post this cause it is driving me crazy and it is something I should let everyone know about. Here goes...

Back on June 9, I went and placed an order with Pandawill for an X10. The add was as follows: X10 MID Tablet PC 7 Inch WIFI Ebook Office 1080P GPS H.264 2GB HDMI White. What I received was a Satellite Navigator. What a disappointment!

Upon receiving the package, I noticed first the box it was in. It states on the outside that it is a Satellite Navigator. No where on this box does it indicate X10. See Image below...

When I opened the box it showed signs that it was a used product because the screen protector sheet was creased in several places and was not sticking to the device like a new product would have been. See image below...

So now I have this device that is clearly not an X10, as advertised! It is used/demo product. I opened a dispute for a full refund with PayPal. It did not go well, PayPal sided with the vendor and not the customer. So everyone out there, BEWARE OF PAYPAL! BAD BAD COMPANY! PANDAWILL IS A BAD COMPANY! BEWARE OF THEM!! They will reel you in with fake product information and then when you get it, it is not what was advertised. It will be something different, a mock up, a USED item or a DEMO!

I have learned my lesson. Do not order from Pandawill and do not trust Paypal!

Later,
carlos

Looking for the next netbook/notebook/tablet pc

I am looking at the Tablet pcs coming out. I want to get one, since I am all about not having a keyboard and doing all the work with touch. I have an IGo keyboard I purchased several years ago. I've used it with my HTC TouchFlo, still works.

So this tablet, I looked at the Microsoft Courier, but that is not coming out till later this year, what I have heard is Qtr3 or Qtr4. It is a slick device, it has two screens and it is a book like device. I have seen the vids that have cropped up, but they are not the real thing. So I will wait to see what comes out of Redmond on this one.

HP has the Slate. It looks good and all, but I am not too fond of the Intel Atom processors, they are, just plain slow. I like the Dual Core processors, like the one in my Acer 1410 notebook. It is snappy, I can run multiple apps at the same time and it does not slow down.

So Acer has advertised the 1420P Tablet Notebook, it is 11.6" Touch Screen, but I do not know if it will be multi touch. That is what I want to get. But It looks like France is the testing ground for it. So, I don't think this will appear in the US till Qtr3 or Qtr4.

So, I will wait for these two to materialize, the Microsoft Courier and the Acer 1420P. In the meantime I will be going to the Computer stores and checking out the tablets that they will be showcasing.

Later,
Carlos

Bluetooth Installed

I finally received the bluetooth module and installed it per the instructions here. It was fairly easy. I did get to see inside the 1410. The software driver etc installed just fine. Although, I did see that microsoft was the name of the driver manufacturer. So I decided to do an uninstall and reinstall through device manager. It then showed the correct name for the manufacturer. I now have bluetooth on my 1410. I'll be picking up a bluetooth trackball mouse for it. I think that Kensington is the only one that makes that type of mouse.

Later,
Carlos

Acer Aspire 1410

I've updated the memory to 4gigs and also the hard drive to 500gigs @ 7200rpm. It runs faster than before. I love this thing. I also would like to have bluetooth on this system, so I've ordered a bluetooth card and will be getting a bluetooth mouse for it. This will give me access to all the usb ports when I need them.

For example, if I connect an external usb dvd drive, it takes 2 usb ports to function, one for data, the other for power. That leaves me only 1 usb port. Currently I have the Logitech Nano Laser Mouse with the small usb stick using one port. So now I have no usb ports available. Yes I know, I can get a usb port expander, it is not the solution I am after, it would mean just another thing to carry.

Now I am just waiting for the post office to deliver the bt card.

Later
Carlos