[Palm Treo 750 ROM Development] abs99:
What does it fix?

So, I took the plunge and upgraded to the leaked WM6 firmware last week. And, I realized that so far there wasn't a summary of some of the valuable changes in this release so I thought I would take a minute to comment on some of things I really like about the upgrade.

Having said that, I am aware of one documented issue with this version of the OS which is the problem with the phone coming out of "sleep" mode when it shouldn't only when the display brightness is set below 50%. Other than this, I have yet to discover any issues.

Now, I do not use bluetooth devices and I also don't use voice command so I can't comment about those options one way or another. I use the phone for business and personal use mostly as a phone and for e-mail. I have corporate e-mail with Exchange setup as well as Hotmail through the integrated Windows Live feature.

Overall I highly recommend the upgrade. Here is what I like (in no particular order) compared to the original WM5:

1. When on a phone call I now get two touchscreen buttons to enable/disable the speakerphone and enable/disable the mute. This is FAR better than having to open a menu and choose the option from there as the soft button is always right there on the display ready to switch modes. In the past I really could never "mute" the phone because it took too long to switch. This new feature solves the problem completely. Fantastic!

2. I can completely disable the "autocorrect" feature when typing. With WM5 I seemed to often "miss" letters as I was typing because the phone would pop up possible words as options. I never used that feature, found it annoying and it slowed me down from typing due to missed key-strokes. I now shut it off and I am very happy and no more missed characters. Also, for those who do use this feature, it is completely customizable in terms of word completion, etc.

3. Meeting requests - WM5 had a bug where a long location entry in the meeting request would not completely display (e.g. a dial-in conference number with passcode). Previously I had to go into edit mode on the meeting request to see the full dial-in number. WM6 resolves this bug. I am a happy camper.

4. HSDPA - Works very well. I previously tried to use the HSDPA hack but I never saw it working and I always felt like it somewhat destabilized the phone as I would experience some strange behavior (lockups, etc.) which I could only resolve by removal of the hack and hard resetting. I like that the phone automatically bumps up to HSDPA for data transmissions then back down to UMTS to save battery life all on its own. In contrast, I believe that WM5 devices which support HSDPA don't do this automatic switching based on feedback from people I work with who have the Blackjack - HSDPA will very quickly kill their battery when enabled.

5. HTML e-mail - looks good and works very well. Nice upgrade.

6. E-mail attachments - in WM5 I had to open the e-mail, click the attachment to indicate I wanted to see it and then manually launch the sync process for Exchange or Hotmail. With WM6 when I select the attachment the phone instantly downloads it for me and opens it right up. Very nice!

7. Modem/laptop tethering - I used to use PDANET to tether to my laptop. WM6 has internet connection sharing included and it works great! No need to use PDANET, I get HSDPA speeds, and the service works well and is automatic. Excellent!

There are lots of other smaller changes/fixes/enhancements, too many to list, however I think I captured the really meaningful ones I have found.

Other considerations:

Speed - some people have reported that the phone is "faster". I have noticed that the display/menus appear to operate faster than WM5, perhaps the display driver was rewritten and is better than before. Basic processing speeds appear the same to me and I wouldn't expect much difference.

Calendar - some of the views have been updated/enhanced. The calendar is a little easier to read and the updates are appreciated.

Battery Life - I never got great battery life on the device. Overall battery performance feels very similar to before, possibly slightly worse but tough to tell. I have not loaded up lots of applications and I wonder if some applications others have installed may cause faster battery depletion in WM6.

Overall, this upgrade resolves some significant issues which always irritated me with WM5. As a business user, WM6 although basically the same as WM5 truly addresses some major usability problems I had previously experienced.

Andrew