[MDA III, XDA III, PDA2k, 9090 Software Upgrading] baeshin81:
I recently had a chance to put all the windows mobiles to the test compared to the current version of windows mobile 2005 that i was using on my Blue Angel Variant ( Siemens SX66 ).

HP for Cingular Wireless currently has Windows Mobile 2003.

Cingular 8125 currently has Windows Mobile 2005.

Siemens SX66 currently has Windows Mobile 2005 Ivan Version listed on my signature.

The HP Windows 2003 is a great unit with old looking menus and display. With the bare unit meaning that nothing is installed on it was nice and clear on the clear on the screen. It was bright and it ran just fine without too much of a glitch. This particulr test unit was done at a Cingular Wireless location in Fullerton, CA. This unit was used by various customer who do not know how to use Windows. Although there was no additional software loaded on the device, there remained a couple second lag when clicking on the Start button as well as running various basic application such as the control panel or memory on the unit.

The Cingular 8125 with Windows 2005 was fast. It responded way faster then than the HP Windows 2003 unit. There were some customized features added in the unit but even so, the unit performed faster than the Windows 2003 model. It was quick to open operation as well as other items I clicked on such as again the control panel and the memory and running application portion of the unit.

Although there has been various version of Windows 2005 for the Blue Angel devices, I found that the version of Windows 2005 that I was using with all the software on my device ran if not the same or faster then the Cingular 8125 that had the Windows 2005 retail on the unit. The menus and the speed of the device that I was using was running almost identical and with minimal programs on my device loaded the start menu in the same amount of time. Receiving calls on my Blue Angel compared to the Windows Pre-Installed Device, it was about the same lag time. There were times when my Blue Angel responded faster and other times with a slight delay. I believe that some of the delay can be related to the changes Cingular might be doing on their network due to some renovations to their systems.

To give everyone on this forum an idea of the difference, I have listed the software I have installed on my device compared to a clean install on the Cingular 8125.

Voice Connect (Device Installed)

TCPMP (SD Card)

David Andr Batti (Device)

PSShutdownXP (Device)

Agile Messenger (SD)

Running Programs (Device)

Gamebox Classics (SD)

Diamond Mine (SD)

Gamebox Gems (SD)

GB-SOFT Tweak (Device)

Customization Tools (SD)

PHM Registry Editor (SD)

Ivan's Extended rom hidden (Device)

Rschell Keyboard Fix Tuma v1.3 Keyboard (Device)

Ivan Personal Settings (SD)

Album with Midi Application (Device)

WESTTEK PDF VIEWER (Device)

MSN preinstalled on device works without any problems.

As you can see, I had various items installed on the device and by watching the two units side by side, there definately was almost no difference between preinstalled Windows 2005 compared to the MDA that I had on my unit.

Given there might be slight differences that I had previously posted as well.

Ivan 3.3_r4 (Downloaded Version Name when I downloaded files)

Windows Build 5.1.1700 (Buile 14343.0.0.0)

ROM: 5.03.02 WWE

ROM Date: 03/02/05

Radio: 1.12.00

Protocol: 1337.42

I honestly saw a major improvement of pulling up the phone portion of the unit when I downgraded my Radio from 1.15 to Radio 1.12. I know some users on this forum have been using 1.15 and had negative effects and have downgraded to 1.13 but my recent attempt to upgrade to 1.13 has failed. I am not able to test the 1.13 radio version type II. I gave up after a month of trying regardless of following all the different method of trying to install the 1.13 radio version.

I have had no issues syncing my phone with my Outlook via Active Sync however I did find some weird differences between the Ivan version and the Tuma version.

-Bluetooth sync I have not been able to get to work.

-Bluetooth between two devices are trickier. I have to turn bluetooth on and then when sending files, there is a different menu item to send files instead of using the BEAM feature that is what I used during Tuma versions tested on Blue Angel.

-Bluetooth with headset does not function corrently and as stated by other users, the connection is one way where the user can hear everything but the calling party does not hear my voice.

-Batti when I first installed it seemed to work and not work. I found that the software requires it to be left on the Device and tends to disappear if put onto the SD card.

-Voice Command does not respond to the first button press. I figure it was due to being on the SD card on my first attemp. Definately install these types of programs to the Device.

Some device specific mods that I made included limitting the amount of WAV formatted ring tones to under 15. At any given time where I assign ring tones, I try to keep less then 15 ring tones on the device. I found that assigning more, it's harder for the device to respond when there is an incoming call.

Overall, I have had the best experience with this version of Ivan and have had very little (almost no) issues once I installed the software in the appropriate memory listed above.

I also wanted to point out that I am using an extended life battery listed as version 3. With a day of using the phone for under 2.5 hours and perhaps a 30 minutes of internet per day with about 1 hour of Wi-Fi usage and 30 to 60 minutes of watching videos on the unit, I am still left with more then half of the battery life. Compared to a regular battery, I would still get through the whole day with this kind of usage without much of an issue. I also set the GPRS to disconnect after 5 minutes using the GB-Soft software listed above to keep that type of battery draining out of the test. The keyboard hasn't been much of an issue for me either such as lights flickering or staying on after using it.

I really feel besides the bluetooth issue, this is the best base ROM that I have used on my device. Having done a side by side test with other phones, I really find that this is the same if not faster then pre-installed Windows 2005 units.

Baeshin81 - Long Live The Programmers On This Forum! Thanks to all who made it possible.