[MDA III, XDA III, PDA2k, 9090 Software Upgrading] spkr4thdd:
Updates are in BLUE

Okay, time for a long post... (and please remember this is all subjective, and personal experiences, your's may be different!)

Preamble:

I've had my BA for a couple of months now, prior to that it has always been PalmO OS devices which I loved, but I wanted a phone enabled device and the Treo was just too expensive to justify it... so ebay beckoned and £100 later I was a proud owner of an O2 XDA IIs...

I'm a fairly heavy user of my PDA's I use them for all my network admin, work documentation, mail on the move, a heavily laden calendar and everything else a busy professional with a family does... with loads, and loads, of travel!!

First thoughts:

I was, to be honest, dreading the move to M$, I have always been a promoter of opensource, Palm, and anything other than the big M, but I was pleasantly surprised... with relativley little pain I got into the WM2003SE way of things, and after a quick read of the Wiki, I cooked my own ROM and had an O2 device which worked really well... I could use my BT headset as stereo headphones or a headset, while connecting to my GPS, I had my Gmail, O2, Hotmail and other accounts set up, I could chat with Skype, GoogleTalk, MSN and ICQ, I had a WiFi sniffer, and all the other trappings as well as a GPRS connection for TomTom Traffic etc... and the media capability was cool, TCPMP worked really well, and with a 1Gig SD card I could take a couple of movies/TV episodes for the journey... in short, I no longer had to worry about taking a laptop on the road.

But that wasn't enough, I was reading about these WM5 ROMS and felt that, after being pleasantly surprised with WM2003SE, it was worth a shot... over the last few days I have tried several ROM's and they all have up/down sides... what follows is a (not so brief) summary of my experiences...

I load up my BA fairly heavily, and I had specific requirements... speed, callerid, space, preferrably A2DP, and again, speed!!

TuMa 1.4 (MS BT Stack):

Some see this as the 'Daddy' of the WM5 ports and I must admit, with one major bugbear, this is an impressive ROM... it includes a lot of stuff in the build which some might prefer was left out, but for the basic user it's helpful to have some of these...

(A Really COOL Boot Logo!!)

TotalCommander

PocketRAR

Extra Games

Cyberon Voice Dialler

GB-Soft Tweak

vBar

pShutXP

IP Utilities

Pocket FTP

SMS Name Notify

ClearVue PDF

BT Headset Today Plugin

BT Stereo Control

Device Lock Today Plugin

and other bits and bobs...

This may well be considered as a 'bloated' ROM (but remember they are all installed in ROM, so no space is taken up from your 'own' space), there is an Ext_ROM option, from SD Card, in this ROM so the memory works out like this... 60MB Storage (- whatever you set up as an Ext_ROM) and 91MB Program Memory... you also get a 32MB Temp_Drive ( I assume this is like a RAMDISK?)... available on a clean install is:

Storage: 57.62MB

Program: 72.53MB

TEMP_Drive: 31.85MB

Total: 162MB (Storage & TEMP_Disk available for app install = 89.47MB)

Out of the Box:

BT: Works very well... including A2DP, I had no problems, whatsoever with this BT Stack/Setup.

WiFi: Again no problems and no reset once I'd applied the Reg Hack.

Base OS: This is where, for me, it all falls apart... even with eveything else working like a dream, the 'Pictures & Videos' app in this build just does not work, at all! This means that the CallerID functionality is kaput... I can't live with this, I love the ability to 'see' who is calling, I have many, many numbers in the work category, and being able to put a face to a number beats having only a name any day... other than that this ROM works really well, and the additional install space means I can have all my apps installed without the 'critical' low storage warning... in addition to this another glitch I have come across is 'sticky' buttons... both the D-Pad and the hardware keyboard can result in stuck keys/repeated entries... BT Voice Dialling works with Cyberon, and even better with MS Voice Command (if you hack a little), and with the A2DP profile the MS option works through the BT headset rather than the PDA speaker,,,

Ivan V4 R3 (WidComm BT Stack):

Built as a 'clean' ROM, this one really comes with no bells or whistles, included are:

BT Headset Today Plugin

Cyberon Voice Dialler (I Think!)

and apart from the Base OS stuff, that's about it!

This is a relatively speedy ROM on first impressions, but it slows dramatically down when loaded with apps... you can setup an Ext_ROM with this one, or use the full 60MB as storage... there is no Ramdisk or Temp_Drive option so you get 60MB Storage (- whatever you set up as an Ext_ROM) and 123MB Program Memory... available on a clean install is...

Storage: 57.64MB

Program: 98.40MB

Total: 156.04MB (Storage available for app install = 57.64MB)

Out of the box:

BT: works okay, although there is no A2DP functionality,but I can connect to my headset and my GPS... (which is a big thumbs-up for me). I have experienced a few of the system restarting glitches, but not the BT not restarting/dropping out with this ROM so that's an upside.

WiFi: Connectivity is okay (typical BA signal strength) and once you apply the 'ResetOnResume' Reg hack then it works very well, I have had no dropouts or non-restarts with it at all.

Base OS: A big upside for this is the Pictures & Video, it works! This means I can use the CallerID function on the WM5 dialler, which I do, extensively!!

Logout V5.4.03 (WidComm BT Stack):

Read great reviews of this on the forum, so thought I'd give it a bash... included are (if you install the Ext_ROM):

Cyberon Voice Dial

ResInfo

Task Manager

Device Lock Today Plugin

TuMa Keyboard (I think, although it looks nicer!)

Just installed this one today... first impressions weren't very good as many of the apps which were meant to be there couldn't be found on startup... then I realised I hadn't cleaned my Registry Hive before the Flash!! The speed in this one is blinding! Compared to both of the others this one is as fast as 2003SE, again, it uses a Ramdisk so you have added space for installs, and it can also use an Ext_ROM, so you have your choice... so you get 60MB Storage (- whatever you use for Ext_ROM), 93MB Program Memory and a 32MB Ramdisk... available on a clean(ish) install (I installed the MMS/Album/Voice Dial and Resinfo Cabs) is...

Storage: 52.8MB

Program: 71.9MB

RAMDISK: 31.8MB

Total: 156.6MB (Storage available for app install = 84.6MB)

Out of the Box:

BT: What there is available works fine... but no A2DP... not experienced any restart issues yet, but it's ealry days

WiFi: Again, all seems fine

Base OS: As stated above this one is blindingly fast... so much so that I actually forget it's a ported WM5 ROM at times, the Pictures & Videos app works, so that's a biggy on the plus side for me, everything seems to be ticking along quite sweetly...

UPDATE 1: Logout ROM seems to lag for a while after installs of S/W... but it settles down again, had one occurrence of s-s-s-stuttering keyboard, but nothing major, and no 3s delay on phone ring, even without reg hack

Artz (WM5_ArtZ_upgrade_WWE_1.7.1.3400_SDCard)

Iloved this ROM at first sight, it had the Stereo Audio BT profile without any updating, it was clean, smooth and fast, but then I tried using it... I'm not sure what went wrong but it just didn't 'gel':

BT: As stated this looked good from the outside, and it did recognise both my GPS and my headset, and it would connect with both, but, andit's a huge but! It wouldn't get any services from my headset on reconnection, it wouldn't recognise my headset as stereo (even though it though it would recognise the profile?) and as vor a 'normal' BT headset, it just sent my i.Tech headset haywire, beeping, pinging and ringing constantly... I couldn't stop it!

WiFi: Again, issues with this... no matter what I did, this ROM would not reconnect to my AP after a reset or power down...

Base OS: At face value this ROM was excellent, it had all I needed to start setting up my BA, and the option for Ext_ROM from an SD card is great... but with the issues above, and the spped at which it 'slowed down' with apps added it was unworkable :(

Obviously I will update each of these as I continue to 'tinker'... and wait for Logout 5.4.5 or TuMa 1.5, if either of these fix the little issues I've mentioned (A2DP for Logout and P&V for TuMa) then I'll be in BA WM5 Nirvana!

In summary, heres a little overview (TuMa, Ivan, Logout):

Speed: 3, 2, 1 (And then some!)

Apps: 1, 3, 2

A2DP: Y, N, N

P&V: N, Y, Y

Voice Dial: Y*, Y, Y

Available Mem: 162/89, 156/57, 156/84

*TuMa's is the only ROM I tested with MS Voice command, so BT Mic+PDA speaker for the other two, complete headset for TuMa.

So there you have it... a 'brief' insight into a few days of WM5 experience, personally I'm going to stay with Logout's ROM, the speed is unsurpassed, it has ample space for installs, I get my CallerID due to P&V working, and if there's one thing about TuMa's ROM I could do without it's the 'free' installed apps... I don't use TtlCmd, I don't use Pocket FTP and I don't use Pocket RAR (Resco Explorer covers those 3 and then some), I use Tweaks2k2 to apply most of my hacks, so the GB-Soft Tweak is mostly redundant, and I use Wisbar instead of vBar... but it's a personal preference thing... in the end, it's up to you... (I now use Total Commander loads :) Thx TuMa)

I'll update this as I try other ROM's or find other benefits/problems/fixes...

*** See my other post in this thread dated 23/06/06 for other issues which I have come across with WM5...***

Logout 5.4.05

I had high hopes for this ROM, 5.4.03 was nearly there, and built on the best of TuMa and Ivan's ROM's...

Out of the Box

An incredibly fast ROM, by far the fastest in basic form compared to all the others available... there are many little tweaks in the software and add-ons included as standard which are useful, such as the SMS Alert Fix etc. It's up to you to make the Ext_ROM, but this is good for 'tweakers' as you can build it to your liking.

BT: Basically, a nightmare! I believe this uses the WidComm stack and as such I can't get the A2DP to work, yes it recognises my Headset, and yes it says there is a 'Wireless Stereo' capability, but when you try to enable that profile it says 'No Device Found'... in addition, and I'm not sure if this is due to the BT switching off fix, my device was switching on at least once every two minutes!!

WiFi: I didn't get round to test this for the reason above, and also the power up issue causing me major headaches.

Issues: I had too many issues with this ROM to detail them all, a short list would be:

No A2DP

Random Power Ons

Software Not Installing Correctly

Software Not Removing Correctly

Software Not Running (Tweaks2K2, WiFiFoFum and others)

BT Dropping Out (While Powered Up)

OS Locks Out (Random, No Common Factor)

And the speed once a few 'heavy' apps are installed deteriorates dramatically...

I have now resorted to TuMa 1.4... I know I have stated previously that I couldn't use it, but I have found a workaround to the Caller ID issue, and the BT works very well (including A2DP), with both 1.13 and 1.15 Radio ROM's, and I have not experienced one unwanted power up, and the BT has stayed on for ages regardless, in addition as long as I don't install WisBar the speed of this ROM beats all the others hands down once all my other apps are loaded. Also, I have had the BA on for 7 hours now, using bluetooth for 1 hour solid in the gym for music, making several calls, setting up my software etc and the battery is still at 75%... not bad at all in my books.

As I said earlier, bring on TuMa 1.5!