[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Chainfire:
The Manual (0.5 and newer) - READ IT!

The Manual

NOTICE: The manual is written for version 0.5 and newer!

Usage notes

I have done my best to let WMLongLife be as least annoying as possible. The idea is (with the default settings) that a band-switch should occur only once in a phone 'session'. Where by a session I mean a screen-on / use device / screen-off cycle. This also means WMLongLife may not switch back to 2G when you expect it to - WMLongLife tries to be smart about things to reduce the number of band-switches but still keep a fairly optimal 2G/power use. Please keep in mind this is a beta release.

Things you should know

WMLongLife generally does not kick-in until you have both entered your PIN (if applicable) at boot,

and

the screen has been off for about half a minute. There are exceptions to this rule - if you override the current band selected by using the Band Switcher app, WMLongLife will start operating from then on.

When band-switching, the icon in the top bar may stay on 2G (G, E, 1X, etc) for a while before it switches to a 3G icon. This does not mean you are not already using 3G, there is a delay in this display.

Issues

Known issues are listed in the post below this one.

Installation

Installation is easy:

Copy the WMLongLife.cab file to your device and open it to install it.

Go into WMLongLife configuration and make sure to check/configure the following options:

- Radio / Radio chip model (and GSM band for Samsung radios)

- Radio / Restart push mail after band switch

- Roaming - All options

These are likely to be detected and set correctly, however I advise you check them anyways. Details about these options can be found in the configuration section below.

Optional: Go to Start -> Settings -> Personal -> Buttons, and assign a button to the Band Switcher application

Soft-reset

The configuration options in WMLongLife are supposed to have "sane defaults", the setup which I expect will work best for most users.

Please note some beta testers have reported they need to soft-reset

twice

after installation/upgrade before WMLongLife works

Upgrading

If you are using version 0.2 or older, please remove it manually. All newer versions should be a simple case of copying the new CAB file to your device and opening it to install it without the need to uninstall the old version first. A soft-reset is necessary.

Please note some beta testers have reported they need to soft-reset

twice

after installation/upgrade before WMLongLife works

Uninstallation

Before uninstallation, there are two things you should do:

1) Open the Band Switcher application, and switch to "3G (auto)" mode

2) If you have roaming options enabled, make sure you are NOT roaming when uninstalling

After these two points, simply uninstall WMLongLife using Windows Mobile's Remove Programs function.

Popup when an unknown application tries to connect to the internet

Please see the application-specific configuration section below - it uses the same screen.

Band Switcher application

Currently this application is not skinned / nice-looking because it still contains some debug functionality.

This application can be used to manually instruct WMLongLife to switch to 2G, 3G (auto) and 3G (only) bands. While WMLongLife should do all this for you at the right time, there will be times when you want to override. It also offers the feature to disconnect cellular data connections, and jump to the configuration application.

There is also a "WMLongLife controlled" button. This will return band-switching control to WMLongLife if you have previously selected a band manually. If the Screen / Return control to WMLongLife when the screen turns off option is enabled, this will also automatically happen when the screen goes off - and stays off for a while.

Configuration

The configuration application offers access to the myriad of features that are present in WMLongLife. It is divided into three main screens: home (about), settings, and application-specific settings.

Configuration - Settings

Radio / Radio chip model

Select the radio model you are using here. This should be auto-detected on first installation. If this option is not set correctly, WMLongLife will not switch bands.

Radio / 3G mode

By default when WMLongLife switches to 3G, it uses the 3G (auto) mode. This lets your radio decide whether to use 2G or 3G, based on signal. The other mode is 3G (only). This mode will force the radio to use only 3G, and you will have no signal if only 2G is available.

Radio / GSM band for Samsung radio

If you are using the Samsung radio option, you will need to configure your GSM band here. Unfortunately there is currently no way to detect this.

Radio / After switching to 3G, connect to

This option allows you to set a connection to automatically connect to after WMLongLife has switched the device to 3G.

Radio / Restart push mail after band switch

Enable this option if you are using Microsoft push mail (Exchange Sync). It should be auto-detected, but this detection is not always perfect. If you are not using Microsoft push mail, I strongly advise you to turn this option off!

Screen / Switch to 3G when the screen turns on

Enabling this option will switch to 3G every time your screen turns on.

Screen / Switch to 2G when the screen turns off

Enabling this option will switch to 2G every time your screen turns off.

Screen / Screen off 2G switch delay

This configures how long to wait after the screen has turned off before switching to 2G. WMLongLife does not switch immediately after the screen goes off, as often you will turn on your screen again - if for example you were doing something but the screen went off automatically.

Screen / Return control to WMLongLife when the screen turns off

This option is relevant to the Band Switcher application. If you manually select a band to switch to in Band Switcher, WMLongLife will temporarily not switch bands itself. In Band Switcher there is also a button to return band-switching control to WMLongLife. If this option is enabled, band-switching control will be returned to WMLongLife automatically after the screen turns off (the Screen off 2G switch delay is also taken into account here).

Screen / Show band switch notification

This option configures whether or not you will see an On-Screen Display when WMLongLife switches bands.

Screen / Vibrate notifications

Very handy for debugging! When this option is enabled, WMLongLife will vibrate when loaded, when ready, and when switching. It may take WMLongLife over a minute to be actually loaded after the device is booted. When it is, it will vibrate very shortly three times (it may feel like a single long vibration). When WMLongLife is ready to allow automatic switching, it will vibrate shortly twice. When WMLongLife actually switches bands, it will vibrate once.

Applications / Switch to 3G on whitelisted application launch

This option configures whether or not to switch to 3G when you launch an application you have configured to use 3G. This is the heart of WMLongLife, disabling this option would usually not make any sense.

Applications / Switch to 2G on whitelisted application close

This option configures whether or not to switch to 2G when you close an application you have configured to use 3G. This option is disabled by default, and WMLongLife will switch back to 2G when the screen goes off instead. Enabling this option would make for a lot of band-switching to occur, while disabling this option ensures a band-switch should only occur once per 'phone-usage-session'.

Applications / Internal cache timeout

WMLongLife maintains an internal cache of all application windows. Because of technical reasons, the cache of these windows needs to be purged every once in a while. I recommend (for now) to keep this option set to 30 seconds.

Wi-Fi / Switch to 2G when Wi-Fi is connected

Enabling this option (default) will make WMLongLife switch to 2G when you connect to a Wi-Fi network.

USB / Switch to 2G when USB is connected

Enabling this option will make WMLongLife switch to 2G when you connect your phone to your computer using USB. This option is disabled by default, as it may cause excessive bandswitching if you are one of those people who cradle / uncradle their device often. USB also usually means charging, so the extra power needed for 3G is usually not an issue in this case.

Data / Disconnect idle connections

Enabling this option will disconnect idle data connections. If you have push mail enabled (and this is detected correctly) this option is turned off by default, else it should be turned on.

Data / Idle connection timeout

This option configures how long a data connection needs to be idle before WMLongLife disconnects it.

Data / Disconnect idle connections when the screen is on

If this option is not enabled, WMLongLife will only disconnect data connections when the screen is off.

Data / Disconnect idle connections when the applications are running

If this option is not enabled, WMLongLife will not disconnect data connections when a whitelisted application is running.