[MDA, XDA, 1010 Software Upgrading] erickbryce:
First off XDA Dev forum rocks! I think it is so great that so many people have really helped every level of user. I believe this is truly the best-run forum on the net. XDA developer Peter Poelman, Jeff S., Lance, and I'm sure I'm leaving someone(s) out, please don't take it personally (God I feel like I'm giving an Oscars speech). No really, these guys are great! It's always nice to see a virtual community that actually works like a community. Anyways Tits Up! to ya all :lol: I hope that wasn't inappropriate I mean it is a real expression...... :oops: ...I think? :shock:

OK back to my experience so far:

(Theses experiences are based on a Previously US T-Mo PPCPE device with the ATT wireless SX56 latest Radio Stack running obviously WME2003 on US Cingular's Network. As a side note I think we should encourage people making posts for help or in general to start each post with your location, country, service provider, device variant, & ROM+Radio info. This sounds like a lot but these things really aid troubleshooting. Not to mention many of these things can be the thing that makes someone go :idea: I know the answer to that one! Anyway just a thought)

a.) I don't mind all the name changes, win CE, Handheld PC, Pocket PC + 1 and a 1/2 incarnations, and now WME. Just as long as it doesn't get changed to The Operating System Formerly Known As :roll:

b.) If you are having trouble with ring tones this is what I experienced. After using the add ringtone app in setting my ring tones wouldn't show up once I went to the phone app to change the ring tone it was not their. I then snooped around and found some differences.

1.) 2003 ring tones (ROM) are actually .wma files or have that extension

2.) Strangely these files differentiate from regular .wav files by having a space after the name (i.e. ringtonfilename .wma verses ringtonfilename.wma or ringtonfilename.wav) I am not sure this is how the OS tells the diff.

3.) Even weirder now everything works as it should space no space, use +ringtone app, or direct copy file to Rings folder in \windows DIR. So, if you're having problems try adding the space and putting it in the windows directory folder then once it shows up move it back to the rings folder and all should be well. Haven't toyed with .midi ring tones or polyphonic ringtones yet.

c.) If you want .wav files to show up in the sounds & notification / notifications tab just name the beginning of the file with Alarm i.e. Alarmwavfilename.wav and put it in the \Windows DIR folder and their you have it. I use Looney Toons TAZ talking when I get a new SMS as an example. AlarmTAZ.wav

d.) There seems to be a lot of stuff left over from the old OS if that is possible, or I'm not sure why it would be included as duplicates or not used by .Net 4.2x

Under Settings:

I have 2 power icons under settings. They both seem to work fine except one uses a newer Icon and is missing hyperlinks to other apps. I wonder if 4.2 see both but not the key that has the hyper links. Might be fixable. I'd suggest delete one of the keys but not before figuring out adding a new value for the hyper links. I still don't quite understand the registry. I have no computer training just self-taught and now have hard resetting down to blind folded, underwater and in my sleep :lol:

(If anyone understands the registry please PM me I have some interesting ideas I’d like to try that could benefit everyone :D )

Auto Config icon links no where.

Device Information doesn't get all the information right.

Other stuff that seems to do nothing but is present

\Windows\Cookies

\Windows\History

\Windows\Temporary Internet Files

\Windows\www

[I think these files were added by the developer of this beta to aid the team/soft dev/beta testers familiar with the old layout. I don't think this is the raw WME2003 OS (could be wrong). I would love to get my hands on that, incase service providers tweak & load junk on their that make the device work the way "they" want it to and not what it "is" capable of doing.]

These all now live in (with the exception of the last) in a new location that gets used (with new sub folders called content.IE5 & history.IE5) \Windows\Profiles\guest\

You'll need to know this if you wish to move the location of your temp internet files to be stored on your SD or MMC card. (p.s. don't delete your index file when manually deleting files in these folder it does not remake itself on warm boot. This may not be the case any more)

Also, you may want to download & install VBruntime for pocket pc 2003 from MS. I looked all over and for the life of me I can not find the file to post the link, but don't worry once you do anything that requires it I was prompted to download it by the OS :shock: 8)

e.) Also under \Application Data\Volatile\ DIR & \profiles\default\ DIR these don't seem to serve any function either.

That's about it for the oddities, of course there's the snooze hangs your device alarm bug. Not sure if that's going to be so easily fixed :cry: might be vibrate option related? Haven't toyed yet.

Also, radio signal display isn't all that accurate. Signal still the same, just not displayed as accurately.

OK now on to the cool stuff! (I'll just focus on the functionality issues as not to repeat too much that we already have in the forum:

f.) True Class B GPRS (Strange seems to be OS side not GSM Radio Side, as I didn't upgrade the Radio Stack :?: )

Always on + True GPRS Suspend feature! (I can't believe I waited over a year! for this common basic function :evil: and MANY people out their are still! waiting. I'm surprised this device even did as well as it did given this was already a feature in Bluetooth phone+PDA combos. I almost took it back to the store the day I bought it (Like all the handheld computers in my PDA graveyard from Casio Boss-Sharp-1st CE-Psion-RIMBlackberry-HPC both form factors-PPC, I

must

be the first to have it! I'm ill that way :roll: early adopter is a light term :shock: )

g.) Today Plug-in big improvement Calendar gives you a heads up the next appointment down the road (you'll either love this or hate it & it's not an option :( so hope for the first)

Inbox plug-in shows all your accounts SMS+All email accounts. Taping on the specific account launches that account 8)

h.) Pac-Man anyone :) just go to \Windows\Pac-Man.exe and copy via file explorer into your \Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Games and Tap & Hold select paste shortcut. Then Tap & Hold rename and get rid of "shortcut"

i.) Inbox rocks now almost Blackberry like functionality (sort of) When you set up a new account their is an option to check called connect & check for messages every "" minutes. Max value is only 60min not so good if you’re trying to watch kb charges or battery life. But the really cool part is it really works. Even if you ready for this kids 8) DO NOT have a current data connection it will at the appointed interval launch a data connection and run! :shock: way 8) This will take place even if the devise is turned off, but requires inbox to be open and I think on the top (not running in the background a stupid MS bug. Not the case when the device is on will run in the background)

Now for the things I do hate :x :

Once again Microsoft just blows me away in their omission of a function that is so obvious, basic and expected and just cripples the device at the point of it's "Main" cool sell factor (i.e. data connection killed on power off, data connection terminated on call dial/receive) that I just can't believe it :shock: The moment the little thought ran through my head "Oh, #%$@! I might have to wait a year for this tiny #%$@in pivotal bug to get worked out I almost threw my device out the window I was so pissed :x :evil: So hear it is and your not going to believe it:

The inbox as stated above works awesome, very automated, great, etc, but if you have more that one email account it will ONLY auto connect and check the one that is on top! Even worse, if your SMS account is on top wont check any of your email accounts :shock: I just cant believe it all that functionality and just like before...Up the dirt path! :shock: What were they thinking? I don't think this is going to be fixed by any of the operators. I'd be curious if the non Phone Edition WME2003 has this same roadblock? Two little things; work in the background on or off, and check all accounts. Makes sense the app has to be open.

One last OMG can't believe it MSN Messenger is very flakey with GPRS Suspend sessions. Meaning sometimes it does not reconnect and other times it does. The problem is you will have no idea unless you go look to see, at this point...What's the point? Defeats the whole purpose. Again, these are most likely on the MS side not likely to be fixed by the service providers :cry:

I recommend copying the tmail.lnk file located in \Windows\ to \Windows\StartUp\

One cool thing you might really want to do :) :

This is a must have http://www.phm.lu/Products/PocketPC/RegEdit/ for the following:

It seems many people like to program their voicemail password in with the voicemail number so it gets entered automatically. I, like many others, initially tried adding the p's to the number in Start, Settings, Phone, Voicemail but after a soft reset the p's change to 0's.

The following seems to work on an SX56 with AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile. This involves editing the registry, if you're not careful you can break things requiring a hard reset. You might want to do a backup through ActiveSync before trying this. I'm not responsible if you break it.

If you don't already have it, download and install a registry editor. The one from PHM (www.phm.lu/products) seems to work great.

Open the registry editor.

Navigate to \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Vmail

Edit the PhoneNumber key to include your voicemail access number, pauses (use "p"), and your password.

Edit the RegOverridesSIM to 1, instead of 0.

Close the registry editor.

Soft reset the device.

Go to SpeedDial and verify your voicemail number includes the pauses and password.

After this, do not go into the Voicemail settings, ie. where it says "Reading settings from network...". Doing so will reset the RegOverridesSIM key and you'll have to do it again.

Hope this helps someone out.

Source: PocketPCPassion user boostaddict

_________________

Mike Collins

thank you mike for this tip now it gets a little trick on 2003 here's why. In the \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Vmail there is no RegOverridesSIM key beleive it or not I a non-programmer am going to teach you anyone how to write a registry key :shock: (only for this instance! It's probably not really this easy. I had no idea what I was doing. Just guessed right the first time, shew!) OK kids here we go (doing this wrong may well destroy the very fabric of our 4 dimensional universe or.....It'll just #%$@ up your machine :roll: ):

\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Vmail

Then from edit on the command bar select "New DWORD Value"

Value Name: RegOverridesSIM

Value data: 1

Base: Decimal

Hit OK

Now go to Phone Number 1 Edit your phone number to include your pauses and password or what not under

Value Data

and hit OK

Exit the program (Close It not minimize)

Soft Reset your device and that's it!

OK enough my conclusion (To WME2003 or SER1.2 or not):

If you read this post and said "#%$@! me, do I really need to know all that?! :evil: I just want my device to work. (You want a stable reliable device, and never look under the hood of your own car. Oil what's that? you get the idea :mrgreen:)

Also if you are counting kb (GPRS data) and only connect for information, for fun, or not more than 5+ times a day

Then Go with SER1.1 or 1.2 both excellent very well done and way stable. Nice job guys 8)

If you are not counting kb, you really "need" connectivity 24hrs a day (other than the novelty factor i.e. I do wireless & software consulting for corporations in the US wanting to go wireless or paperless, and I provide Technical support via IM clients. Now imagine how free "I" become being able to be truly mobile :shock: This is what wireless is really all about baby! I'm also an Actor here in Los Angeles...no really it just sounds like a joke :lol: )

don't mind getting your hands dirty, tinkering under the hood, or every time someone give you back your phone after looking at it you caress and utter under your breath "My Preeeeeciouse...."

Then go with WME2003

Hope this helps.

P.s. If there are any programmers for CE4.2 out there I have some ideas specific to these devices and I have the resources to get these ideas to companies and the entertainment industry. The demand is getting stronger, the future is being realized in business, and right now my hands are tied to what already is. Not, what should be. Big difference, even bigger market.